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?SOCK-PUPPETING? MAY LEAD TO CRIMINAL CHARGES

By Walin & Klarich

For the uninitiated, the term ?sock-puppet? is used in reference to the Internet to describe a situation where a person creates a fake online identity, usually for the purpose of deception. While it might seem obvious that, for instance, if a person makes up a false identity, and posts an ad offering to sell a baseball autographed by Babe Ruth for $10,000, but the poster has no such baseball, and the poster takes another person?s $10,000 and fails to deliver the goods, the poster can be charged with an internet crime. What about other contexts, such as harassment? Take the case of Megan Meier. Ms. Meier was a teenager from Dardenne Prairie, Missouri who had a falling out with a friend. Thereafter, the friend and her mother allegedly set up a web page on the social networking site MySpace...continue to full post

Full post as published by Southern California Criminal Defense Blog on May 05, 2008 (boomark / email).