A bill intended to crack down on online fraud is currently sitting on Governor Schwarzenegger’s desk, awaiting his signature.
This anti-‘e-personation’ bill is backed by Senator Joe Simitian (D-Palo-Alto). According Simitian, “In the age of the Internet, pretending to be someone else is as easy as using their name to create a new e-mail account. When that is done to cause harm, folks need a law on the books they can turn to,”
Apparently, there is already an existing law similar to the bill, but it dates back to 1872 and only covers forgery of a person’s signature. This bill intends to include Facebook, Twitter, and e-mail to that.
However, there are some grey areas pertaining to the bill, such as what really constitutes “credible impersonation.” Since some activists temporarily impersonate corporations and politicians as a form protest, the bill’s take on such events is still up for discussion and debate.
[via Ars Technica]
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