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[ NNSquad ] "Should Faking a Name on Facebook Be a Felony?" 

"Should Faking a Name on Facebook Be a Felony?"
http://j.mp/ovpNK5  (This message on Google+)

 - - -

http://j.mp/nrOpE6  (WSJ)

   "Imagine that President Obama could order the arrest of anyone who
    broke a promise on the Internet. So you could be jailed for lying
    about your age or weight on an Internet dating site. Or you could be
    sent to federal prison if your boss told you to work but you used the
    company's computer to check sports scores online. Imagine that Eric
    Holder's Justice Department urged Congress to raise penalties for
    violations, making them felonies allowing three years in jail for each
    broken promise. Fanciful, right?"

 - - -

Well, actually, yes, it is pretty fanciful.  However, that doesn't mean
there aren't serious risks to this legislative approach.  The main
risk isn't that the government will go after you for "simple" ToS
violations per se, but rather that the law will be used as a tool
to try prosecute people that the government really wants to get for
other reasons but can't find alternative charges that will stick,
or as a "sentencing enhancement threat" related to some other charge.

In other words, let's say you're a whistleblower who has released
embarrassing info.  It may be impossible to prosecute you for that
action, but if some ToS violation can be dug up -- under the new law
theoretically charged as a felony ("that's not really his date of
birth!") -- it gives prosecutors a new angle for selective prosecutorial
abuse.

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com): http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org
Founder:
 - Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org
 - Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance: http://www.gctip.org
 - PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Google+: http://vortex.com/g+lauren
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein 
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com