Moroccan Man Pardoned For Fake Facebook Profile

from the took-'em-long-enough dept

Last month, a Moroccan man was sentenced to three years in jail just because he set up a fake profile of a Moroccan prince in Facebook. These sorts of fake profiles are quite common, and it didn't appear that the profile did anything defamatory. However, the guy was still charged with identity fraud. That seems extreme. If the Moroccan royal family was upset about the profile, why not just ask Facebook to take it down? If the fake profile was defamatory, sue the guy for defamation. Charging him with identity fraud and giving him three years in jail was clearly overkill. The international response to this event apparently caught the attention of the royal family, and the king has pardoned the guy in question, releasing him from jail after just a few weeks. However, the fact that he had to go to jail at all still is worrisome.

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Legal Issues

by Mike Masnick

Mon, Feb 25th 2008 6:48am

Man Gets 3 Years In Jail For Fake Facebook Profile

from the fraud-or-fun? dept

Earlier this month, we pointed to the case of a Moroccan computer engineer who was arrested, supposedly for "stealing" the Moroccan prince's profile on Facebook. As we noted in the post, the original details weren't clear on whether the guy had somehow gained control over the prince's actual Facebook page (which seemed unlikely) or if he'd just set up a fake profile. Further details revealed, indeed, that the guy had merely set up a fake profile of the prince for fun. Given how common fake profiles of celebrities are on Facebook, it seems rather ridiculous to consider that being akin to identity fraud. Apparently, however, the judicial system in Morocco feels differently. The guy in question has now been sentenced to three years in jail. This seems ridiculously excessive, especially since it doesn't sound like the fake profile was negative in anyway. The guy, Fouad Mourtada, claims to be a fan of the prince who just saw the opportunity to have a bit of fun in setting up a profile for him. It's difficult to see how any court with any sense of reason could consider that to be the equivalent of identity fraud.

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