{"id":3145,"date":"2014-10-22T12:19:29","date_gmt":"2014-10-22T12:19:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ncjolt.org\/?p=3145"},"modified":"2020-06-04T20:53:40","modified_gmt":"2020-06-04T20:53:40","slug":"facebook-does-not-want-the-dea-to-be-your-friend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/blogs\/facebook-does-not-want-the-dea-to-be-your-friend\/","title":{"rendered":"Facebook Does Not Want the DEA to be Your Friend"},"content":{"rendered":"

In early October, Sondra Arquiett filed a lawsuit<\/a> alleging that the Drug Enforcement Agency (\u201cDEA\u201d) created a fake Facebook account using her name and information. Arquiett was awaiting sentencing for possession of cocaine, for which she would eventually receive probation. According to the lawsuit, the DEA created the account for the purpose of identifying other suspected individuals in a drug conspiracy. The falsified Facebook account included pictures of Arquiett<\/a> with her son and niece, as well as Arquiett in provocative poses. The pictures were retrieved from Arquiett\u2019s smartphone, which was in the possession of the DEA during the drug investigation. Arquiett\u2019s attorney noted that she did not intend to post<\/a> any of the pictures and the it was \u201cMore disturbing than the fact that the DEA Agents posted a picture of her in her underwear and bra is the fact that the DEA agents posted a picture of her young son and young niece in connection with that Facebook account, which the DEA agents later claim was used .\u2009.\u2009. to have contact with individuals involved in narcotics distribution.\u201d
\nU.S. Attorney Richard Hartunian admitted that a DEA agent created the fake Facebook account<\/a>, but defended the actions stating that although Arquiett did not expressly grant the DEA permission to use the account and photos, she \u201cimplicitly consented by granting access to the information stored in her cellphone and by consenting to the use of that information to aid in .\u2009.\u2009. ongoing criminal investigations.\u201d
\nThe DEA has launched a review<\/a> of the practice noting \u201cthat review is ongoing, but to our knowledge, this is not a widespread practice among our federal law enforcement agencies.\u201d
\nFacebook responded to the practice last week in a letter to the DEA<\/a> demanding that agents not impersonate users on the social network. Facebook\u2019s chief security officer stated, \u201cThe DEA’s deceptive actions. . . threaten the integrity of our community. Using Facebook to impersonate others abuses that trust and makes people feel less safe and secure when using our service.\u201d Additionally, Facebook pointed out that the DEA\u2019s use of a fake account violated the social network\u2019s terms and Community Standards<\/a>. Facebook has demanded that the DEA cease any additionally impersonations on the network.
\nPrivacy experts have commented that the DEA\u2019s actions appear to be very similar to identity theft, noting \u201cIt’s one thing to strike a deal and become an informant. It’s another to lose complete control of your online identity.\u201d Professor Anita Allen of University of Pennsylvania Law School said<\/a>, \u201cIt reeks of misrepresentation, fraud, and invasion of privacy.\u201d Additionally, experts agree that it was a stretch for the DEA to assume that Arquiett, or any informant would allow the use of any photos discovered during the search and that it was unlikely that someone would consent to the DEA\u2019s use. Professor Elizabeth Joh of University of California Davis, School of Law commented,<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a dangerous expansion of the idea of consent, particularly given the amount of information on people\u2019s cell phones.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Arquiett\u2019s DEA created Facebook account was removed by Facebook administrators and her suit is proceeding in the federal courts for the Northern District of New York.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In early October, Sondra Arquiett filed a lawsuit alleging that the Drug Enforcement Agency (\u201cDEA\u201d) created a fake Facebook account using her name and information. Arquiett was awaiting sentencing for possession of cocaine, for which she would eventually receive probation. According to the lawsuit, the DEA created the account for the purpose of identifying other …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3146,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[51],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3145"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3145"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7414,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3145\/revisions\/7414"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}