A
woman in New Jersey has learned that pretending to be someone you’re
not can be a legal problem if you do it on Facebook. Dana Thornton is
accused of posing as her boyfriend on a fake Facebook page – and posting
comments like he was “high all the time,” had a sexually transmitted
disease and spent time using escort services. A judge has ruled that she
can be prosecuted for identity theft – a crime punishable by a maximum
18-month prison term. At issue is a New Jersey law that makes it illegal
to impersonate someone “for the purpose of obtaining a benefit for
himself or another or to injure or defraud another.” A judge ruled that
that law can apply to such activity on social networking sites.
