False Social Networking Registration a Hacking Crime?
You knew that law enforcement would find some way to indict Lori Drew, the 49 year old Missouri woman who helped create a MySpace page that led to a 13 year old girl committing suicide. The tragic consequences and public outcry ensured nothing less. Nevertheless, the theory by which prosecutors indicted Ms. Drew is a dangerous one for Internet users. Prosecutors argue in the indictment that by providing false information in her MySpace registration, Ms. Drew violated the terms of service of the MySpace service and, therefore, her access was unauthorized. This, therefore, permitted prosecutors to allege that Ms. Drew's use of the service was a violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act -- the statute most often used to target hackers. For Internet users, though, such a theory should provide users with great pause. It is rare that an Internet user has not provided false or incomplete information or violated a service's terms of service. If any such use could create a Computer Fraud and Abuse Act violation, it could significantly chill Internet use. The USA Today has a nice article on these risks.
