# DEA Agent Creates Fake Facebook Page **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 15, 2014, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dea-agent-creates-fake-facebook-page/701404 "2014-10-15T14:39:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dea-agent-creates-fake-facebook-page/701404/41 "2014-10-16T19:52:44Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Back on topic: the idea that police can “lawfully seize” intellectual property strikes me as a novel one. Would you disagree that a search warrant can be issued allowing the police to seize a physical photograph? What differentiates a physical photograph from a digital representation of the same image? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dea-agent-creates-fake-facebook-page/701404/42 "2014-10-16T19:52:53Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > I agree. Obviously the ones who have not put him on ignore are not smart. If they were they would have put him on ignore, right BPC? Why they must be down right retarded morons to not put him on ignore like us smart people, right BPC? I just hope that some time in my lifetime we can wipe out all thought that does not conform to the designated acceptable thoughts as dictated by the Supreme Thought Court. He’s so damn good that all he has to do is post once on a PIT thread, and the thread is hijacked forever. :mad: Maybe, just maybe, we could discuss the actual, you know- OP?😛 Otherwise, he’s won the thread. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dea-agent-creates-fake-facebook-page/701404/43 "2014-10-16T19:56:26Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Back on topic: the idea that police can “lawfully seize” intellectual property strikes me as a novel one. Hell, they can get away with just about anything. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dea-agent-creates-fake-facebook-page/701404/44 "2014-10-16T19:59:54Z")
> [@Bozuit](#): > > Personally, I dislike the idea of avoiding opinions I don’t agree with, although of course my sanity requires I do it to some extent. I’d rather learn the self-control to read things I disagree with without necessarily getting drawn in. Yeah, most of the posters I would have on ignore, I actually read. I just don’t respond; it’s not worth it. There is, of course, a constant danger of getting my eyeballs stuck from rolling them with such vigor. ---
**Author:** ![PaulParkhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dea-agent-creates-fake-facebook-page/701404/45 "2014-10-16T23:25:06Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Would you disagree that a search warrant can be issued allowing the police to seize a physical photograph? > > What differentiates a physical photograph from a digital representation of the same image? You do understand, don’t you, that there is a difference between physical possession of an image and the right to publish and distribute that image, yes? Of course the police can seize photographs (printed or digital) if they have the appropriate warrant. It’s not clear that such a warrant also gives them control of the IP rights to those photos. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dea-agent-creates-fake-facebook-page/701404/46 "2014-10-17T00:38:37Z")
In situations where the precise legal clarity is absent, the guy with the gun is right. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dea-agent-creates-fake-facebook-page/701404/47 "2014-10-17T02:31:32Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Well, yes. That’s how crimes generally _work_ - they have to happen before they can be considered crimes. “Attempted Murder, now honestly. Did they ever give anyone a Nobel Prize for Attempted Chemistry?” ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dea-agent-creates-fake-facebook-page/701404/48 "2014-10-17T03:44:17Z")
> [@Bozuit](#): > > Personally, I dislike the idea of avoiding opinions I don’t agree with, although of course my sanity requires I do it to some extent. I’d rather learn the self-control to read things I disagree with without necessarily getting drawn in. That might take some time, though… > > Besides, **Smapti** got my _Sweet Seymour Skinner’s Baadasssss Song_ reference the other day. And sometimes it can be amusing to PALATR. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dea-agent-creates-fake-facebook-page/701404/49 "2014-10-17T04:44:09Z")
> [@jimbuff314](#): > > 11 minutes after OP. Just curious, is that fast for him or what? I know the other day he took several hours to get to a cops-done-wrong thread but I heard he was tied up in traffic and also attended an event at his local precinct that ran long. - snerk \* I’m guessing alerts. Like Batman to the Bat Signal, his phone probably goes off every. single. time. there is a mention of the police on the interwebs. I’m sure our fearless crusader only delays whenever he’s too busy righting the wrongs of wanton police bashing elsewhere online. When he’s deigning us with his presence? Johnny on the spot! ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dea-agent-creates-fake-facebook-page/701404/50 "2014-10-17T12:41:39Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > This is above my pay grade, so I’ll just have to take a leaf out of your book and robotically accept [the decision handed down from our governing betters](http://www.bloomu.edu/technology/copyright_penalties): Nope. The criminal act only exists if the infringement is for private financial gain or commercial advantage. See 17 USC § 506(a). ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dea-agent-creates-fake-facebook-page/701404/51 "2014-10-17T12:42:57Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Nope. The criminal act only exists if the infringement is for private financial gain or commercial advantage. > > See 17 USC § 506(a). > [@Steve\_MB](#): > > “I’ll just have to take a leaf out of your book” means “For the moment, I’m doing it your way” (i.e. “right” and “wrong” do not enter into it; what the government says, goes). PTtKUWtC. Then why did you misrepresent to Smapti what the government said? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dea-agent-creates-fake-facebook-page/701404/52 "2014-10-17T12:52:38Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > The latest Stupid Police Trick – online identity theft: > > Now that the case has become public knowledge, it is “under review by Justice Department officials”. I’m not holding my breath waiting for Sinnigen to be punished for his various civil and criminal offenses (just off the top of my head: breach of contract, copyright violation, and reckless endangerment). Addressing only the criminal… Breach of contract is not criminal. Copyright violation, in order to be criminal, must include the motive of either private financial gain or commercial advantage. In New York, reckless endangerment requires proof of a “substantial risk” of “serious physical injury” to another person. I think it’s pretty clear that Sinnigen could have some civil liability here, but it’s equally clear that none of the options you mention are possible criminal convictions. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dea-agent-creates-fake-facebook-page/701404/53 "2014-10-22T04:17:32Z")
Facebook has asked the DEA to please [stop impersonating users](http://money.cnn.com/2014/10/20/technology/security/facebook-dea/). They point out that, at the very least, creating an account in this manner violates their Terms of Service. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dea-agent-creates-fake-facebook-page/701404.md?page=2)