4 ms·

>> "As she went through Caldwell’s things, she found a little black notebook of Caldwell’s in the backseat. It contained all of his contacts and even some of hi

>> "As she went through Caldwell’s things, she found a little black notebook of Caldwell’s in the backseat. It contained all of his contacts and even some of his passwords. On July 26, Trent used the information from the book to access his Facebook account, which had become, in recent years, a living record of the man that Caldwell longed to be. Trent decided to start editing it, to make it reflect, more clearly, the man who he truly was. She took down the profile picture of him as a bearded mountain man and replaced it with a shot of him in an orange prison jumpsuit." Guessing few will make it to the end of the article, but was shocked to read the above, since the victim literally provided statements and evidence of them committing a federal offense.

jacquesm 9y ago
I highly doubt the jerk will sue, after all his statement included the little gem that since she gave him the keys and she got the car back without damage. By that same token he gave her the notebook and he can change his page back with 'no damage'.
- piker 9y ago
  He doesn't have a choice -- it's a crime against the state. Only the USA has the ability to pursue or drop the case.
- astura 9y ago
  Suing it's not the concern, the concern is being convicted of a crime. Totally different things.
RyanOD 9y ago
Editing someone's Facebook page is a federal offense?
- sp332 9y ago
  While the CFAA has been interpreted very broadly, this would violate it pretty specifically. And if it's not the CFAA, it's at least fraud.
  - RyanOD 9y ago
    Interesting. I guess I still think of social media as nothing more than goofy, leisure time activities. Hard for me to think of it as associated with fraud or any other crime...but, the times there are a changin'...
    - sp332 9y ago
      Well it can be pretty personal. Plus they changed his profile picture to something intentionally damaging. If you log in as someone else, you get access to their private messages. You can send messages or make posts as them or delete old ones. You can see a history of where and when they logged in. You get access to photos and posts they haven't made completely public. Anyway if you're not lucky enough to have friends and customers physically nearby, social media could be your only connection to close friends or critical business contacts. Messing with that could really make someone's life difficult.
    - simplicio 9y ago
      Eh, accessing someone else's facebook to post mischievous posts seems to be a near universal prank amongst US teenagers, and I've never heard of the Feds taking an interest. Seems like its one of those things that's technically illegal, but is unlikely to draw any actual legal action unless done in the service of some more serious offense. (plus, I'm pretty sure fraud requires an intent to deceive. Given that the woman told a journalist what she was up to, it seems it would be hard to prove that she was trying to make people think she was actually the owner of the facebook account.)
      - sp332 9y ago
        The fraud in this case would be to Facebook, because she is pretending to be the other user. I'd be surprised in this case if Facebook took legal action against her, but they might ban her from the platform.
        snowwrestler 9y ago
        Ok but that's pretty far from a federal offense.
piker 9y ago
Came here to say that. I was floored. What a turn from victim to federal criminal...
skue 9y ago
Prosecutorial discretion. Given the circumstances it’s hard to imagine someone thinking that the FB edits deserve prosecution. Can you imagine convincing a jury that this deserves a felony conviction, or a judge handing down any sort of meaningful sentence? (IANAL)
- piker 9y ago
  Federal sentences are almost entirely out of the hands of the judge. Prosecutorial discretion is the absolute last out you'd ever want to rely on when facing a computer charge. She shouldn't have done it, one. Two, she should have never told the author that she did, and three he shouldn't have published that part of the account.
  - dragonwriter 9y ago
    > Federal sentences are almost entirely out of the hands of the judge. Federal sentences are almost entirely in the hands of the judge, except in the case of statutory minimum sentences. While there are Federal Sentencing Guidelines, they are not mandatory, and judges may depart from them in either direction within the range set for each offense. Heck, even in a federal plea bargain, the parties don't usually (can't, IIRC) include a sentence; they can include an agreement on how to apply the guidelines factor and a joint recommendation to the judge on whether to depart (presumably downward) from the guidelines, but the judge still sets the sentence.

jacquesm 9y ago

I highly doubt the jerk will sue, after all his statement included the little gem that since she gave him the keys and she got the car back without damage. By that same token he gave her the notebook and he can change his page back with 'no damage'.

piker 9y ago
He doesn't have a choice -- it's a crime against the state. Only the USA has the ability to pursue or drop the case.
astura 9y ago
Suing it's not the concern, the concern is being convicted of a crime. Totally different things.

RyanOD 9y ago

Editing someone's Facebook page is a federal offense?

sp332 9y ago
While the CFAA has been interpreted very broadly, this would violate it pretty specifically. And if it's not the CFAA, it's at least fraud.
- RyanOD 9y ago
  Interesting. I guess I still think of social media as nothing more than goofy, leisure time activities. Hard for me to think of it as associated with fraud or any other crime...but, the times there are a changin'...
  - sp332 9y ago
    Well it can be pretty personal. Plus they changed his profile picture to something intentionally damaging. If you log in as someone else, you get access to their private messages. You can send messages or make posts as them or delete old ones. You can see a history of where and when they logged in. You get access to photos and posts they haven't made completely public. Anyway if you're not lucky enough to have friends and customers physically nearby, social media could be your only connection to close friends or critical business contacts. Messing with that could really make someone's life difficult.
  - simplicio 9y ago
    Eh, accessing someone else's facebook to post mischievous posts seems to be a near universal prank amongst US teenagers, and I've never heard of the Feds taking an interest. Seems like its one of those things that's technically illegal, but is unlikely to draw any actual legal action unless done in the service of some more serious offense. (plus, I'm pretty sure fraud requires an intent to deceive. Given that the woman told a journalist what she was up to, it seems it would be hard to prove that she was trying to make people think she was actually the owner of the facebook account.)
    - sp332 9y ago
      The fraud in this case would be to Facebook, because she is pretending to be the other user. I'd be surprised in this case if Facebook took legal action against her, but they might ban her from the platform.
      - snowwrestler 9y ago
        Ok but that's pretty far from a federal offense.

piker 9y ago

Came here to say that. I was floored. What a turn from victim to federal criminal...

skue 9y ago

Prosecutorial discretion. Given the circumstances it’s hard to imagine someone thinking that the FB edits deserve prosecution. Can you imagine convincing a jury that this deserves a felony conviction, or a judge handing down any sort of meaningful sentence? (IANAL)

piker 9y ago
Federal sentences are almost entirely out of the hands of the judge. Prosecutorial discretion is the absolute last out you'd ever want to rely on when facing a computer charge. She shouldn't have done it, one. Two, she should have never told the author that she did, and three he shouldn't have published that part of the account.
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  > Federal sentences are almost entirely out of the hands of the judge. Federal sentences are almost entirely in the hands of the judge, except in the case of statutory minimum sentences. While there are Federal Sentencing Guidelines, they are not mandatory, and judges may depart from them in either direction within the range set for each offense. Heck, even in a federal plea bargain, the parties don't usually (can't, IIRC) include a sentence; they can include an agreement on how to apply the guidelines factor and a joint recommendation to the judge on whether to depart (presumably downward) from the guidelines, but the judge still sets the sentence.