Fake Identities Online – Are They Illegal?
By Anna Johnson on December 5th, 2008A recent United States court decision has MAJOR implications for people who use pseudonyms and fake identities online. Yes, that includes those of us who use fake names in forums and other places on the Internet…
Last week Missouri mother Lori Drew was convicted of three misdemeanor counts of computer fraud. Evidently, she had impersonated a teenage boy on MySpace and ‘cyber-bullied’ a 13 year old girl, which ultimately led to the girl taking her own life. Apparently Ms Drew adopted the persona to combat the girl cyber-bullying Ms Drew’s own daughter.
No question about it – the circumstances of the case are, indeed, tragic. But the court’s decision and reasoning have far wider implications than those related to cyber-bullying.
Ms Drew was found NOT guilty of accessing a computer without authorization to inflict emotional distress. However, because she contravened MySpace’s terms of service that users be ‘truthful and accurate’ when registering, she was taken to have gained ‘unauthorized access’ — a violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986.
To date, ‘unauthorized access’ has been mainly used against computer hackers, but this decision suggests that unauthorized access includes gaining access to a website using a false identity.
If accepted as a precedent by other courts, the decision could be interpreted broadly to mean that any use of a false identity online is a prosecutable offense. A narrow definition, however, may be that ‘unauthorized access’ only arises if, in using a false identity, the person in question contravenes a website’s terms of service i.e. those on a forum or social networking site.
In other words, it’s only an offense if the terms of service state that you must use your real identity or, as in MySpace’s terms of use, be ‘truthful and accurate’ when registering.
(Oh, and in case you never read terms of service… that was Lori Drew’s defense too!)
Using a false identity may not be a huge issue for someone who doesn’t upset anyone or do anything else wrong… But this decision, if upheld, should be a warning to people who, using fake names, create havoc on online forums where the terms of service are that users must be truthful and accurate when registering.
Just by using a fake name they may have effectively gained ‘unauthorized access’ and therefore be guilty of an offense under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
December 5th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
WOW…that could be a good precedent set if it takes care of some of the malicious people out there just out to cause trouble. Great issue as always Anna.
December 5th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
I agree Ron. The first thing I thought of was trouble makers on forums!