Interesting People mailing list archives
Re: Can You Go to Prison for Lying to a Web Site?
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2008 20:14:09 -0800
________________________________________ From: Lauren Weinstein [lauren () vortex com] Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 9:46 PM To: Suresh Ramasubramanian Cc: David Farber; lauren () vortex com; lauren () vortex com Subject: Re: [IP] Can You Go to Prison for Lying to a Web Site?
Intent as well as deed, as tests for criminal liability.
Judging intent is much more difficult than judging deeds, e.g. demonstrating that there was any intent or reasonable expectation that a suicide would result. You can prove harrassment, the result is known, but intent to cause a death? If a child tells another child (who isn't known to harbor suicidal tendencies) to "drop dead" and the child kills himself, is that murder? Manslaughter? What about if an adult says the same thing to that child with the same result? Ugly and horrible yes, but given current laws it seems difficult to get beyond that, as the prosecutors found in this case. In any event, trying to use wire fraud statutes based on false facts in a MySpace profile is an inappropriate approach, and an obvious attempt to come up with *something* to satisfy the (understandably) upset public. But it's still the wrong approach, with major risks. --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein lauren () vortex com or lauren () pfir org Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 http://www.pfir.org/lauren Co-Founder, PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org Co-Founder, NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com - - -
apparently for not being truthful in the associated MySpace profile. Much as I understand the emotions in play, such a move could potentially carry awesome negative consequences for the open use of the Internet. If anyone reading this blog entry has never provided false information about their name, age, sex, location, or other characteristics to a Web site, you should definitely be considered for a sainthood somewhere down the line.
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Current thread:
- Can You Go to Prison for Lying to a Web Site? David Farber (Jan 08)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Re: Can You Go to Prison for Lying to a Web Site? David Farber (Jan 08)
- Re: Can You Go to Prison for Lying to a Web Site? David Farber (Jan 08)
- Re: Can You Go to Prison for Lying to a Web Site? David Farber (Jan 09)
- Re: Can You Go to Prison for Lying to a Web Site? David Farber (Jan 10)
- Re: Can You Go to Prison for Lying to a Web Site? David Farber (Jan 11)
- Re: Can You Go to Prison for Lying to a Web Site? David Farber (Jan 11)
- Re: Can You Go to Prison for Lying to a Web Site? David Farber (Jan 11)
- Can You Go to Prison for Lying to a Web Site? David Farber (Jan 11)