Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Telling A Lie Online Is Not Yet A Felony

By Cornelius Nunev


George Washington University professor Orin Kerr elevated blood pressures around the country on September 14. The Op-Ed he authored for the Wall Street Journal, published that day, specified the horrors of the so-called "Facebook Felony" law. The felony provision has been changed out of the bill. However, Congress is still thinking about a cyber-security bill.

Ways to have Facebook Felony out of your life

As professor Kerr talked about, strengthening of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, first written in 1986, would have made any lie on the internet a felony. Taken to its logical end, this regulation would have made it a felony crime to violate terms of service on any site. It might be a felony to make an account with a phony name, fake age or even fake weight with the law. With the change to the regulation, things are now different. Hackers that threaten computer networks are now targeted.

Individual individuals affected

Many people such as Kerr had the same concerns. This is why the Senate Judiciary Committee is considering the update to be an amendment to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. There is an actual amendment. It exempts "access in violation of a contractual obligation or agreement, such as an acceptable use policy or terms of service agreement, with an Internet service provider, Internet site, or non-government employer, if such violation constitutes the sole cause for determining that access to a protected computer is unauthorized." In the debate over adding the amendment, Al Franken and Chuck Grassley used many examples that were not ethical but most likely should not qualify as a felony. Things such as reviewing your business positively on FourSquare with anonymous accounts are unethical although they don't constitute a felony. Statues for cyber security have been used in the past to prosecute bullies but only in extreme cases.

What to look at out for

There is definitely an ever-increasing focus on online identity and security, no matter what Congress does. In 2009, the Justice Department prosecuted a woman for creating a phony profile on MySpace. Last year, a computerized program that bought tickets on TicketMaster led to criminal charges for an individual. Several of these laws preventing unauthorized access can be used in civil cases also as criminal. When on a website, you have to follow the terms. It is a very essential thing to do. The likelihood that you will be prosecuted for telling lies about your age on a dating site may be low, but it is always a good idea to read and understand the full terms of service so you know the rights and responsibilities you are likely to be held accountable for.




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