MySpace vs Anonymity

Remember that case where a woman pretended to be a young boy to get information out of a young girl, then dumped her harshly? The young girl then killed herself. This happened in Missouri if memory serves. Missouri has no laws on the matter. A federal court in Los Angeles has brought charges against the young woman. Something about fraud against MySpace by lying about who she was.

Now, she was lying about her identity by saying she was someone else entirely. Nearly every one on MySpace has a screen name. So do I.  Screen names are not what is on trial here. Saying you are person A when you are person B is. Also, the bylaws of MySpace and the ability to enforce the bylaws in court is on trial. This precedent may force people to use their real name at some point on a forum in order comply with a federal law.

That open all kinds of trouble if accurate. How much prudence is required when checking someone's identity by those who run the forums. Who gets sued when someone gets nabbed? What about foreign users? What about foreign forums? What recourse will people have to track people down who slander intimidate them? I'm using the word 'forum' in a broad meaning here.

It would be nice if this effort would drive some of the post SPAM off the forums like MySpace, Facebook, every other random forum site like Goblin Nation. Everyone's site is pounded with Viagra adds sent by people in third world countries logging in on OLPC boxes working for bags of rice. It won't help though. What do the advertisers care? They are already breaking 25 laws, what is the trouble with a 26th?