Facebook To DEA: Hey, No Setting Up Fake Accounts
from the not-cool dept
Earlier this month, we wrote about the DEA's decision to set up a fake profile of a woman who was charged in a case related to drug dealing. The DEA argued that the woman's "consent" to using evidence from her seized cell phone in their investigation included allowing them to (without telling her) set up a Facebook profile in her name, post pictures of hers and other children (from the phone) and "friend" people that the woman knew in real life, in an effort to get more evidence in the drug case. After the story got attention, thanks to a Buzzfeed article, the DOJ said it will "review the practice" of creating such fake Facebook profiles (implying this isn't the only one).Facebook itself has now stepped into the fracas, noting that the DEA's actions are a "knowing and serious breach" of the site's policies, and that those policies still apply to the government.
Most fundamentally, the DEA's actions threaten the integrity of our community. Facebook strives to maintain a safe, trusted environment where people can engage in authentic interactions with the people they know and meet in real life. Using Facebook to impersonate others abuses that trust and makes people feel less safe and secure when using our service. Indeed, as we have observed at Facebook, such deceptive actions are often used to further harmful conduct, such as trolling, hate speech, scams, bullying, and even domestic violence. This impact is markedly different from undercover investigations conducted in the "real" world.It further asks that the DEA "immediately confirm that it has ceased all activities on Facebook that involve the impersonation of others or that violate our terms and policies." Of course, I wonder if it would even be possible for Facebook to figure out when the DEA sets up a fake profile, but it appears that this tactic by the DEA may not be usable going forward. You can read the full letter below or download it here (pdf).
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Filed Under: dea, impersonation
Companies: facebook
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Not to mention Facebook could also add a warning to profiles created from .gov address ranges: "This profile was created from a US government computer and may not be who it claims to be." Since very few government IPs should be used for creating Facebook accounts, this could work well. And yes, the DEA could get around this too, but it would again make things harder for them.
At some point the benefits to the DEA wouldn't be worth continuing to fight it.
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Blocking things on the web works really well...
Not to mention Facebook could also add a warning to profiles created from .gov address ranges: "This profile was created from a US government computer and may not be who it claims to be."
That is arguably illegal. Obstruction of justice has been applied for "outing" undercover officers and I could see how this could easily fall into the same category.
The best Facebook could do is try blocking them and shut down accounts when they find out they are impersonations. The government could go after itself for CFAA violations, but that seems...unlikely.
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Hahaha ... good one.
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And get charged with obstructing justice, because they are stopping them collecting evidence.
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No, they're stopping them from creating evidence. No obstruction if the original account is a fiction. Good luck charging them with obstruction of justice for preventing a phishing attack on their network -- the PR would be all in Facebook's favor.
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Perhaps you should look up "botnets" and acquaint yourself with them. Then consider: what makes you think that those that the US DoJ has "shut down" have actually been shut down and not merely repurposed?
(Unless you'd like to assert that a government which has already shown itself to be willing to engage in every conceivable form of subterfuge, privacy invasion, spying, and security hole exploitation somehow, for some inexplicable reason, hesitated and declined to exploit a resource that had fallen in their hands.)
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the new battlegrounds of 'justice' in 'Merika
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Might that be the bill of rights? Nah, that's just a piece of paper.
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routine tactic
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The gig is up.
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This is pretty rich --
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Also, look up consent by silence.
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"Facebook"
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P.S. No, no it wont
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Wiki bans Congress from updating Wiki's
NSA is the only people allowed to circumvent the Constitution with collection techniques of people not suspected of crimes
Local police can take your house and/or money "just because" the suspect you of planning a drug buy?
and now the DEA is violating the TOS of Facebook?
Where will it end?
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Oh it will end.
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...Just not well.
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Where's this "integrity of the community" when it comes to advertisers?
I've seen Facebook users install malware on their devices because they were "endorsed" by friends in this way.
Facebook users commonly tell me they're just aware of this practice, can detect it and ignore it.
But if commercial interests are allowed to false-flag as Facebook users, why cannot the police?
Or, as I see it, if the police cannot, why do commercial interests? It's the same deception and transgression.
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Yeah, that and..
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As I understand it, when you violate the TOS, you are subject to being denied the use of FB. Maybe when these people can no longer post their photos, "Poke" their friends, and spy on their kids' FB activity (at least, not without violating TOS or mis-use of government resources), then they will finally take notice.
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