Is a Twitter impostor really a criminal?

Fri, 06 Nov 2009

As an early adopter, I’ve been using Twitter since early 2007, and in this time I’ve seen plenty of fake twitter accounts. Deception is no new phenomenon, even in this relatively new form of communication.

Politics is rife with deception. One doesn’t need to be a student of Machiavelli to realize that misinformation often works well in discrediting an enemy. So I’m not surprised to learn of any fake Twitter accounts that were set up for the purpose of smearing politicians. This is just an old game being played out in a new arena.

However, a recent story out of Brevard County caught my attention. Brevard County Republican Chairman Jason Steele was the victim of a fake Twitter account, an impersonation which, (if anyone were to take it seriously), cast the Chairman in a negative light. The perpetrator behind this spoof was revealed to be the recently promoted RPOF Director of Field Operations, (formerly the RPOF Director of Youth Outreach Department), Tim Nungesser. The RPOF terminated Nungesser after a subpoena from the BCSO revealed his connection to the account.

Following are a selection of links to the story:

The news and blog accounts of this story neglect a key question that should have been asked of law enforcement: What alleged crime could have been committed that might justify BCSO serving subpoenas to Twitter and Nungesser’s ISP?

Certainly, criminal acts can and do occur on Twitter. Serious threats, stalking, extortion, and other heinous acts can take place over this, (or any other), electronic medium. There are Twitter Support Guidelines for Law Enforcement in place for the purpose of aiding police in the investigation of criminal acts that might have taken place using Twitter.

Yet I have doubts that these subpoenas could be justifiable in light of the nature of this fake account. I have no direct knowledge of the messages sent from this fake account, but drawing on personal experience reading other twitter fakes, and from reading what few tweets were quoted in various news sources, it appears that Nungesser was guilty only of publishing satire, parody, and hyperbole. A reasonable, intelligent reader would not have accepted the account as genuine.

Again, I must ask: What alleged crime was cited in justifying the issuance of subpoenas in this case?

Was this a purely “political crime”? Is satirizing a politico now illegal? If someone were to impersonate an average citizen of Brevard, using Twitter, could the victim rely on the BCSO to investigate it as thoroughly as was done in this case... Or does the BCSO specialize in acting as a political enforcement arm for Brevard County’s Republican Chairman?

I would like to see the FDLE investigate the appropriateness of these subpoenas. Did political reasons motivate BCSO to abuse subpoena powers as a favor to the Republican Chairman? How many law enforcement hours were devoted to this investigation, and at what cost to Brevard’s taxpayers?

Twitter has a simple procedure for shutting down fake accounts, which are in violation of Twitter’s TOS. Why Steele chose to use law enforcement resources to pursue what was, at most, a civil matter, is a question that should trouble residents of Brevard County. Every dollar spent on this spurious investigation is money that won’t be spent to catch a violent criminal.

Update: Interview with Jason Steele regarding RPOF Twitter-gate

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