Legal Question in Technology Law in California

Re: Faking Identity on the Internet

The government is probably not in the habit of investigating everyone on-line to see who they really are. As long as you're not doing something that would make them interested in your activities they probably won't investigate your identity.

Merely pretending to be someone else on-line is not illegal in most instances, but it sometimes is. If you simply set up a false identity in order to participate anonymously in news groups or chat rooms you're probably OK, but if you are pretending to be someone else who really exists, you might be committing a crime (and might be subject to civil suit) depending on what you do and how you do it.

Likewise, if you are using the false ID to commit fraud or to intrude into someone else's privacy, you could face problems. And I think it goes without saying that if yoyur false ID is a cover for criminal activities you may get into a lot of trouble even if nothing you do on-line is criminal by itself. (What I have in mind are people plotting a crime together and coordinating via emails under false names.)

There are an almost infinite number of ways that a false on-line identity could cause legal problems. For example, if you impersonate a lawyer and give out legal advice over the internet, you may have committed a crime in some states and/or be subject to civil actions. The same would be true if you impersonated a lawyer in person or on paper, so the on-line aspect of it is not all that significant.

Without knowing specifically what you have in mind, I can't say whether you could be in trouble or not.

Re: Faking Identity on the Internet

Your question really doesn't have enought facts, so the best answer is that it depends. If the government wants to find out who you are they can without much trouble.

You can use aliases on the Internet, but not to commit any form of fraud or any other crimes.

Re: Faking Identity on the Internet

The government doesn't know 99.999% of the time, because it doesn't care 99.999% of the time. If it suspects you of, say, terrorist activities, it will investigate you and ultimately come up with your true identity.

Using a fale identity on the internet, as well as in face-to-face contacts, is USUALLY not illegal if not done to commit fraud or crimes.

It is illegal to give false identification to a police officer even if your reason for hiding your true identity wasn't with criminal or fraudulent intent.