After a woman filed a lawsuit against the DEA accusing the agency and one of its agents of using her name and pictures from her cellphone to create a Facebook account, the popular social media website canceled the account and rebuked the agency for violating Facebook’s terms of use.
Joe Sullivan, Facebook’s chief security officer, sent a letter to the DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart last Friday reminding her that police are required to the follow the same rules that apply to all Facebook users (estimated at more than 800 million per day).
Specifically, accounts based on fake identities are out of bounds.
Facebook responded after Sondar Arquiett, a New York woman arrested in 2010, filed a federal law suit seeking $250,000 damages which alleges a DEA agent created an account using her name, and pictures of her stored on her cellphone, to bolster one of its investigations.
Sullivan told the DEA it is forbidden from using the tactic on its website.
“Facebook has long made clear that law enforcement authorities are subject to these policies,” Sullivan’s letter read. “We regard DEA’s conduct to be a knowing and serious breach of Facebook’s terms and policies.”
A spokesman for U.S. Department of Justice said the agency is reviewing DEA policies and practices.
RELATED: Click the links to read accounts of the incident and lawsuit from BostonHerald.com and BuzzFeed News.
Source:: Weed Feed
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