California wants to ban assuming someone else’s identity on the internet

The US state of California wants to ban people from impersonating someone else on the internet, on pain of a fine of up to $1,000 and a year in prison. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is concerned.

The new law should make it a crime for people to pretend to be someone else via e-mail, Facebook or Twitter, reports the BBC. The bill only needs to be signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to take effect. E-impersonation would carry a maximum penalty of $1,000 and a year in prison.

According to Senator Joe Simitian, who introduced the bill, the law is necessary because people can easily impersonate someone else on the internet. There are already laws that prohibit impersonation, but they mainly concern things like forging signatures. According to Simitian, that is no longer sufficient in the internet age.

However, the US digital civil rights movement Electronic Frontier Foundation is concerned about the bill. According to the organization, the law can also limit parodies; on the internet there are imitators of, for example, oil company BP and Apple CEO Steve Jobs wildly popular. Moreover, the foundation believes that the current legislation offers sufficient possibilities to combat impersonation.