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DoJ: Law Enforcement Can Impersonate People On Facebook
An anonymous reader sends news that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency impersonated a young woman on Facebook to communicate with suspected criminals, and the Department of Justice argued that they had the right to do so. The woman was charged with being part of a drug ring and sentenced to probation, after which a DEA agent set up a Facebook page in her name, uploaded images to it (including pictures of her son and niece), and used it without her consent. She recently sued the agent in federal district court, and the government argued that she "implicitly consented by granting access to the information stored in her cell phone and by consenting to the use of that information to aid in an ongoing criminal investigations [sic]." Facebook has now removed the account, and the DoJ is "reviewing" the case.
So this is exactly why Apple would encrypt their entire phone and did not leave a way for them to decrypt their own devices... so that they can avoid situations like this...
Just because a dude works for the DOJ... that doesn't give him the right to invade and abuse the person's privacy... regardless if he/she is a criminal or not... Just because he was authorized to view the contents of her phone, it doesn't mean he can freely use it out in the open any way he wants....
And it makes me laugh so hard that now the DOJ is saying they have the right to do it... that's just plain ignorant...
To hell with copyright infringement and her unauthorized use... what about facebook's rights?
The agent in question almost certainly engaged in unauthorized access to facebook servers, in excess of his granted, authenticated authority, while impersonating another user -- on a protected, commerce impacting system (there's ads on those servers). Including hosts with financial impacts crossing state boundaries. Whereas
That is to say -- the agent knowingly broke 8 U.S.C. 1030.
The process of getting the report, following up, revoking access, and reputational harm alone easily exceeds $5,000. C'mon facebook... bring charges to bear. The least you can do is demand that if the DEA impersonates a user, they do it through YOUR authorized processes, or get a damned court order for it.
US v Morris alone is enough to get this happening on "federal interest" computers. Given facebook's a CIA front... well...enough said.
They failed on all counts. Think of the precedent it sets if you don't go after them... you've failed to protect your ad revenue.
Exactly. This is textbook identity theft. Law enforcement does not obtain any rights to use someone's cell phone photos or identity outside of the actual prosecutorial process just because that person is being or was successfully prosecuted. The fact that the DOJ argues this is totally okay reflects how absurdly fucked up the US government is.
Better yet: Identity Theft.
Better yet: two counts of wire fraud and 11 violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, carrying a cumulative maximum penalty of $1 million in fines, 35 years in prison, asset forfeiture, restitution and supervised release.
I think the agent in question & his bosses all hanging themselves in their bedroom would be acceptable to me as well.
Yeah, isn't amazing that when government agents do something illegal, the courts say "stop doing that". But when private citizens do something illegal, even if it took 200 rounds of appeal because even judges couldn't decide if it was illegal, the citizen is held fully culpable.
Court mandated identity theft. Too cruel or too unusual?
You should really look into how the loyalists were treated in the American war of separation. Remember that the loyalists were as much citizens of the colonies as any other white person and that while no polls were done, the usual breakdown in those situations is about 1/3rd for, 1/3rd against and 1/3rd indifferent which is why revolutionaries never act democratically (they're as likely to lose as win), at least until they've thoroughly terrorized the opposition.
Also consider some of the revolutionaries names that have come into common usage such as Lynch.
As usual the winners write the history to make themselves look good.
Other examples include the American trained freedom fighters in Central and South America and Vietnam where standard procedure included destroying villages to save them and so much more horrible shit in the name of fighting for freedom. The same shit is still going on but the American military has learned to control the press which is why when peoples go nuts after having their family killed, we can pretend they're just nutcases.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism