[arg_discuss] "Fake Blogs Now A Criminal Offence"

[Deb Fuller]

> If a law like this ever hit the books in America, I imagine the big test

> would be when an ARG-related case inevitably hit the courts.


There's been a case like this recently. It involved a mother who
created a fake Myspace profile and started flirting with one of her
daughter's rivals. The mom as this fake person, lured this girl into a
"friendship" with the fake persona and then encouraged her to kill
herself, which she finally did. The court case against the mother
hinged around her fake myspace persona which was created to
deliberately get back at her daughter's rival. I think the mother was
found not guilty in criminal court but the Internet being what it is,
has published all of her personal info including where she lives,
where everyone in her family works or goes to school, where she
frequents, all of her contact info, etc. etc. She'll never have a
private life again.

While this case is certainly different from the "flogs" for marketing
purposes highlighted in the original article, I'm sure this isn't the
last we will see of cases involving fake blogs for whatever purpose.

Deb