(UFU - 2015 - 1 FASE)Feds Settle Over Fake Faceboo

(UFU - 2015 - 1ª FASE)

Feds Settle Over Fake Facebook Profile Used in Drug Case

By Lauren Walker

A DEA agent created a fake Facebook profile in a woman's name using the contents from her seized cellphone.

The Justice Department reached a $134,000 settlement with a woman in upstate New York on Tuesday after the Drug Enforcement Administration used information from her cellphone to create a fake Facebook page in her name in an attempt to nab an alleged drug ring.

The settlement comes more than a year after the woman, Sondra Arquiett, sued the Justice Department saying the DEA had caused ―fear and great emotional distress‖ by creating the fake account. The government initially defended the agency, saying that Arquiett implicitly consented to the page by ―granting access to the information stored in her cellphone and by consenting to the use of that information to aid in ... ongoing criminal investigations.‖ But as the case attracted widespread media attention over privacy concerns, the Justice Department decided to review the case.

The drama began in 2010 when the authorities arrested Arquiett and seized her cellphone as part of a drug bust. Arquiett later pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to distribute cocaine, and a judge eventually sentenced her six weeks of time already served, in addition to a period of home detention and five years probation.

But as Arquiett was awaiting trial, DEA Special Agent Timothy Sinnigen used information taken from her cellphone and created a fake Facebook page. He then used this fake account to gather information about an alleged drug ring. In 2013 Arquiett sued the agency, claiming the page endangered her well being as it ―initiate[d] contact with dangerous individuals,‖ such as sending a friend request to a fugitive, and made it appear as if she was cooperating with a federal investigation.

Disponível no site: http://www.newsweek.com/feds-settle-over-fake-facebook-profile-used-drug-case-301096. Aceso em 25 jan. 2015 (adaptado).

De acordo com o texto, Sondra Arquiett decidiu processar o Departamento de Justiça dos Estados Unidos, porque