Court Says Logging Into Someone Else's Facebook Page And Posting A Message Can Be Identity Fraud
from the bad-cases,-bad-law dept
Eric Goldman and Venkat Balasubramani discuss a ruling in which a kid who, via a text message from someone (it's never made clear), was given the password to someone else's Facebook account. Having the password, the kid logged in and posted some predictably juvenile posts on her wall, and changing her profile to read:Hey, Face Bookers, [sic] I'm [S.], a junior in high school . . . I want to be a pediatrician but I'm not sure where I want to go to college. I have high standards for myself and plan to meet them all. I love to suck dick.The kid got charged with a felony for identity fraud (under broad California state laws), and the court actually did find that this amounted to identity fraud. I'm much more inclined to agree with Eric, that while ridiculously childish and obnoxious, the actions really should not amount to a felony. It's a kid doing stupid things after being given someone else's password. That kind of thing likely happens all the time. Sure, punish the kid a little, if you must, but the "crime" he's being charged with seems way out of proportion with what he actually did.
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Filed Under: identity fraud, logins, social networks
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What an odd ruling.
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Re: What an odd ruling.
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or "non-physical impersonation"
though they would probably settle on
"identity piracy" or "identity mongle hoarding"
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This kid's a rapist, obviously.
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It used to only be a crime to impersonate a cop or someone with legal authority. Now it's apparently a crime to say you're anyone other then yourself.
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"slander via impersonation"
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Punishment yes, ruin the kid's life no.
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I'm not even sure this should be a crime at all, much less a full on felony. Felony is rapidly becoming a word without any meaning.
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No, it still means the same thing it always did:
Any crime for which the punishment is more than one year in prison.
Any crime for which the punishment is a year or less is a misdemeanor.
The problem is that politicians-- in their zeal to draw attention to themselves for protecting the children and whatnot-- don't even consider misdemeanors any more. They go straight from zero to felony.
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I was thinking that this certainly does count as defamation and addressing it as criminal rather than civil might not be such a terrible thing. Unfortunately, I suspect this means many other people (and politicians) are likewise going to simplify the issue and will also miss that same point.
You are correct, this should be a misdemeanor, not a felony. I wonder how many of the problems we see these days are caused by confusion over definitions.
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Then perhaps my cat should sue me for stealing his name and using it as my login here at TD?
What a ridiculous thing to say.
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Whether the other teen guilty, who should certainly be punished enough that they don't do this kind of thing again, should be burdened with a felony, which has serious lasting life-damaging consequences, is a separate issue. We need to deter this kind of conduct, but, unfortunately, teens simply are not deterred by hearing of someone else getting killed driving drunk or high, or getting a life-shattering sentence for a crime. The adults should exercise some judgment and discretion here, and the schools should do a much better job of educating kids not to do things like this.
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Excessive punishment
It SHOULD be a crime, yes. And the victim should be able to sue for defamation or something if they so choose. But to be a felony, there should be something else involved.
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It's the direct equivilent of someone at school gossiping about her.
There is no identity theft. She writes another post the next day saying it wasn't her who posted that in case there is anyone on the planet who didn't already know she wouldn't write that in that way.
It's embarasing, it's a mean prank, people will tease her, and I'm sure they should all be thrown in an Indonesian for their teasing too but I'm with E. Zachary Knight it's a high school social problem not a criminal one imho. You have to learn to deal with assholes in highschool, otherwise you won't be prepared for real life.
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> the victim has suffered because of this.
Victims suffer from the "for a good time..." graffiti, too. Doesn't mean the cops need to be involved.
> This should definitely be deterred.
No doubt. I don't think anyone's arguing otherwise.
But considering the fact that due to prison overcrowding, we have people who are barely serving six months in prison for aggravated armed robbery, the idea of locking up a kid for a year or more for the equivalent of bathroom graffiti is absolutely absurd.
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But you are right, it still isn't identity theft.
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And seeing as how she is in junior high if she still has this on her facebook when she is applying for jobs she doesn't deserve the job
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Also, I seriously doubt he had to reset her Facebook password. She probably used the same password for both accounts, as most people likely do.
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In fact I have heard of more bullying related suicides by males then by females. Though I don't know if it's statistical or not
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Typical American... Over here, Facebook rape (as it's jokingly called) is something that often happens when people leave their phones or laptops unattended. The reaction is typically to laugh it off and buy an extra pint for the victim if they get too annoyed. You'd take it to the courts. That's sad.
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Re: Excessive punishment
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Death of a Tradition
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I'm okay with it
If you illegally break into someone's account and then do stuff, it's a felony. Hey, I have an idea, don't do that.
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I'm okay with the idea that it's a crime. A felony, though? That seems far-fetched.
Hey, I have an idea, don't do that.
Proportionality is importance. Unfortunately, our society has become very supportive of harsh-punishment for every infraction, no matter how minor.
"If he didn't want to get shot six times in the back, he shouldn't have been jaywalking!"
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Do you know how many jobs opportunities I missed in my life?
Maybe hundreds. do I care? nope.
Just get over it and move on.
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and I can think of a couple professions were it would come up
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"The best part is her work at the Bunny Ranch was actually on her damned resume!"
Better than:
"So I notice a couple year gap in your employment history can you tell me what you were doing at that time?"
"Fucking for money."
I suppose
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I think it more likely she gets the job.
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If you think that constitutes predictable, you are not living in the same world that I am.
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People now believe that the law exists for its own sake, and not as a means to an end. Any violation of the law is seen as a sign of evil intentions, and must be punished harshly.
The ironic part is that I'm sure many of the people who cheer for harsh punishment in some of these cases didn't have any idea previously that the action in question was even a crime.
"Yeah! I hope that man gets anally-raped in prison! How dare he import orchids into the US without federal approval?"
"So, prior to this story, you knew that importing orchids into the US required federal approval?"
"Well, no . . ."
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Convicted felons can not hold a security clearance so no jobs that ever require that for this kid.
In many parts of the United States, a convicted felon can face long-term legal consequences persisting after the end of their imprisonment, including:
Disenfranchisement (which the Supreme Court interpreted to be permitted by the Fourteenth Amendment)
Exclusion from obtaining certain licences, such as a visa, or professional licenses required in order to legally operate (making many vocations off-limits to felons)
Exclusion from purchase and possession of firearms, ammunition and body armor
Ineligibility for serving on a jury
Ineligibility for government assistance or welfare, including being barred from federally funded housing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#United_States
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It is a border thing, not a Canadian thing.
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fitting
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We need to think before we ruin his life
We need to think hard about what we are doing to people when we convict them of stuff like this. If this kid gets a felony record, assuming it isn't cleared when he reaches 18 if he isn't already, he is screwed for life. First, he may get jail time at the expense of taxpayers. Second, he will likely not get into college or get a good job with a felony record. So he will be stuck flipping burgers. So again, taxpayers will be paying for his welfare and food stamps.
Or worse, he sinks to a life of real crime because he loses hope. So what exactly has society gained by nailing this guy to the wall for what amounts to a childish prank?
This goes for many other crimes today. Punishment must fit the crime or society as a whole will suffer, not just the "criminals".
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Re: We need to think before we ruin his life
People misbehaving is what brings this on. The constant "vilification of the victim" culture brings this on.
It's very simple: If people can't police themselves, then government will do it for them. End of story.
And I'm glad they do.
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Does the punishment really fit the crime here? Was there even a crime?
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Don't do fucking stupid shit. Respect the rights of others. If you can't do that, fuck you. You're gonna get burned. Grow up or deal with the consequences.
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I am sure, you as a teenager never did stupid stuff? Heck, you probably have never done stupid stuff since then either. You sir, should be El Presidente!
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even something like ACOD in new york is there forever.
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Re: Re: We need to think before we ruin his life
-Citizen's arrest (especially needed to arrest cops; a cop won't do that)
-Right to bear arms (and not just the pea-shooters "most" state gov'ts "allow" us to have . . .)
-Right to defend themselves (immunity from civil prosecution included)
-Right to defend their property (right to terminate intruders, immunity from civil prosecution)
-Right to defend other people (immunity from prosecution while rendering aid or defence to another person)
-Recourse in the event of immoral laws (technically still kinda-legal, but nobody actually exercises it; just admitting you know about the option generally gets you jury-exempted)
The US began with all of these things, but every single one of them is functionally erased now; do you really think people can "police themselves" when the only effective means to do so have been made illegal, and breaking the law has become a crime unto itself?
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I think this is a great thing for the courts to start taking seriously because people need to be aware that using someone else's account to commit fraud, you should be held liable for that.
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So a budding Barry Vincent Ardolf wannabe got busted? Good...
http://www.scribd.com/doc/61340538/In-Re-Rolando-S-F061153-CA-Ct-App-July-21-2011
... I began to remember a few stanzas from Sublime's Song - Date Rape. Looks like someone may have to back up "his" statements in the local correctional facility.
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Not a Felony
Misdemeanour: maybe
Juvenile: definitely
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Re: Not a Felony
Felony: YES
Misdemeanor: Either maybe OR NOT;reason: You are making decisions as to the depth of the punishment, on one hand, calling it a felony(child behavior), then being UNdecided, when deciding whether it should be labelled as a misdemeanor.
Finally,(Juvenile) your reversing your decision BACK to calling it in an UNdeciding manner.
Conclusion: Some individuals are used as an example when punished for what ARE crimes.
The question is, is the punishment being given because it's an election year or is this child being given such punishment because of the judge's decision, because in such cases as a judge making his final decision, could be because of maybe he/she, has personal vandetta's, angers or they simply ARE trying to teach that child a lesson, with TRUE HOPES, that they learn a very serious lesson.
In some cases, that child NEVER EVER phantom such behavior, if they are frightened from a jail experience.
Some children does learn from BOOTCAMP OR time with criminals who will try and show them that they really don't want to ruin their lives with such bad behaviors and will suggest that they separate themselves from such friends, find something more productive to do with all of that idol time on their hands, so that they can avoid trouble later in ther lives, which seems to be the BEST advice a person who is actually doing what they should do and that is, doing what they can to prevent the next generation of children from ruinning their lives.
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As for what his punishment should be? A slap on the wrist, a stern lecture, maybe suspension from school or something. There's no reason to make a federal case out of it.
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FTFY
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Obvious
It's common sense, no?
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Re: Obvious
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Is Facebook somehow considered legal proof of identity?
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"Oh, for the children" is really getting old! Childish or not, this was a crime. The court rule should stand and those of you that think it is to harsh should have this happen to you and then see how you feel.
The both of them should lose internet as they both don't seem to understand how to be responsible with it. Both sets of parents should be fixed to avoid them from having anymore ID10Ts.
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AC for dictator
/sarc
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Then they live happily ever after.
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It's all involuntary!
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He's lucky
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I'm all for punishing jerks but a felony seems excessive.
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Therefore, when "hacking" and "identity theft" legislations were enacted, they were intentionally broad, to cover things that had not yet been invented. Unfortunately, this means people playing "jokes" with no real victim are made into felons.
By this legislation, if I let my niece send farmville gifts to herself using my facebook, she could be charged with a felony. I agree, that's ridiculous. But it's the law, and it's law enforcement's job to execute the laws our legislators write.
So if you think the legislation enabling this to be a felony sucks, you need to contact your legislators.
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I have no problem about that, not even the degree of punishment the offender receives. Don't do anything that is known to be wrong. When in doubt, pause and think.
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Thank God I don't live in a country where people think like this.
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Now I know why they do such intense screening in order to select juries.
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When you think about it that's actually more serious on a number of grounds.
And further, finding someone's password isn't license to go around changing passwords and taking over accounts any more than finding someone else's credit card is an excuse to go on a shopping spree.
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How long until this is the standard 'dog ate my homework' excuse for all the 'bad' things employers find on your facebook page?
How long before the 'unintended consequences' of this start showing up? Denied a job due to 'wall postings'? Claim your account was hacked and someone else posted those things about you partying your azz off in Cabo...
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