International Law

Identity impersonation on Facebook

The Winnipeg Sun reports an on unusual prosecution for impersonation on Facebook:

Posed as a teacher?
Police charge 15-year-old alleged Facebook faker

He's facing the music for allegedly using Facebook illegally.

And at age 15, the Brandon boy is a rare kind of suspect for the relatively rare criminal offence of personation.

The suspect -- who can't be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act -- will appear in court June 24 to face a charge of personation after allegedly posing as a school teacher on Facebook, a social networking website.

"It's probably the first time I've heard of it," University of Manitoba law professor Bruce MacFarlane said of such a charge against someone so young.

"It's a fairly uncommon charge, and certainly more than just uncommon when it comes to youth. It's extremely rare when it comes to youth."

INTENDED TO GAIN

The boy was recently charged by Brandon police after allegedly creating a Facebook profile in the teacher's name, posting information as well as a photo. The incident occurred April 21.

...

An adult convicted of personation could spend up to 10 years in prison.

'MAKE THE LINK'

The burgeoning popularity of Facebook and other networking websites means it's possible that personation charges will arise "with increasing frequency," MacFarlane said.

"Just how many will depend on whether it can be proven, and that's sometimes quite tough to do," he said. "You have to make the link between the person and the computer, and those are all difficult."

Websites of this kind, said Deutscher, don't do enough to ensure users are who they claim they are.

"They don't know who, in fact, is posting what on their sites -- which could affect other people's privacy rights," he said. "In terms of an individual's privacy or in terms of individual reputation, that could be a dangerous thing."

Read more here.

Full post as published by Freedom to Differ on May 06, 2008 (boomark / email).