The practice of creating false identities to fool others on social media is so widespread that it even has its own hour-long reality drama on MTV, where duped Facebook users tearfully demand explanations from the impostors with which they’d fostered imaginary long-distance connections. But you know who we never expected to be found guilty of catfishing? Federal law enforcement.
Back in 2010, Drug Enforcement Agency officials took photos from the cell phone of Sondra Arquiett, a woman they’d recently arrested on drug charges. Many of these stolen photos were suggestive in nature; some of which even depicted her son and niece, both of whom were minors at the time. Agents then used the photos to create a fake Facebook profile with the intent of luring in unsuspecting drug dealers, and communicated with at least one known fugitive in her name. Arquiett only found out about the fake profile when a friend asked her about it, as she didn’t have a Facebook profile herself.
As retaliation for her government-sanctioned identity theft, Arquiett sued DEA Special Agent Timothy Sinnigen for $750,000 in 2013, arguing that his investigation violated her privacy, caused her severe emotional distress, and possibly placed her under danger by suggesting she was “willfully cooperating” with the feds’ actions against the drug ring with which she’d been linked.
According to Buzzfeed, who first caught the story in October of last year, the DEA originally justified Sinnigen’s actions by claiming that Arquiett “implicitly consented by granting access to the information stored in her cell phone.” Now it appears they’ve decided the public attention the case has gotten is more trouble than it’s worth, and settled with the defendant for $134,000.
Unfortunately the settlement leaves the federal government open to try this stunt again if they choose; however, a Justice Department spokesman told The Associated Press that department leadership had already met with law enforcement agencies to “make clear the necessity of protecting the privacy and safety of third parties in every aspect of our criminal investigations.”
For the record, Facebook condemns the federal government’s actions, but that’s about it. Cool, thanks, Facebook. You really know how to make a person feel safe.
(via Gigoam, Shutterstock image copyright Atelier_A)
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