Role-play online is scrutinized

Using a fake persona could soon be a crime.

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

ST. LOUIS — After wrapping up his work in the “Star Wars” saga, Darth Vader settled down in Allentown, Pa. At least, that’s what his Facebook page says.

Actually, there are at least a dozen people on the popular networking site claiming to be the famous villain-turned-hero, which tells us two things: There’s a lot of obvious lying going on and there’s not much being done to discourage it.

Both Facebook and MySpace have rules prohibiting participants from pretending to be someone else. But with droves of users — MySpace alone says it has more than 70 million — neither site is in the business of aggressively policing identity.

And they don’t have to. Sites like MySpace can’t be held liable for the actions of users, according to a ruling last year by a federal judge in Texas. The only time people come close to getting in trouble for using a false identity is when they commit a crime — usually it’s sexual predators stalking kids. But it’s the sex crime that brings charges. Using a fake persona is not a crime.

But soon it could be.

This month, federal officials in Los Angeles revealed they are investigating whether fraud was involved when 13-year-old Megan Meier hanged herself in 2006 after being taunted on MySpace by someone using a fake identity.

The account was linked to a neighboring Dardenne Prairie, Mo., family. Local authorities declined to file charges, saying the circumstances — various people had access to the account — made it difficult to assign blame. The act of creating the fictional Josh Evans, Megan’s tormentor, was not considered a crime.

The LA investigation — in the district that includes Santa Monica, the home of MySpace — is drawing attention across the country and the industry.

At the heart of the Megan Meier incident is a larger issue of honesty on the Internet, and why sitting in front of a computer makes it so easy for some people to stretch the truth, sometimes maliciously.

The lying itself should come as no surprise. That’s been around since the beginning of time, said Frank Farley, a psychology professor at Temple University and former president of the American Psychological Association.

What’s changed, he said, is that the Internet has provided a new platform for some, and an opportunity for others.

The deceptions come in a host of flavors.

Among the more common are those in online dating, which provides a steady stream of complaints about truth bending.

Most of the lies are designed to keep users of matchmaking services from being filtered out of mate searches.

While everyone might worry about being lied to, most of the debate centers around making the Internet safer for children.

Responding to pressure from some states, MySpace recently announced new steps aimed at making it tougher to stalk minors. Among them: the profiles of 16- and 17-year-old users will be marked “private” by default, making it harder for strangers to contact them.

There’s also been pressure to raise the minimum age from 14 to 16 and to develop an age verification tool to replace the honor system in place.