Balkinization  

Saturday, September 16, 2006

How Texting can help prevent Pretexting

Ian Ayres

There is lots of reasonable outrage about HP's pretexting. The term "pretexting" is cute, but the practice of lying about who you are is also called using "false pretenses." And pretexters who use the telephone are almost certainly commiting wire fraud.

But how can we stop it from happening?

In this Marketplace Commentary, I argue that there's a simple way to make progress. Phone companies should send you an automatic notification whenever they give out any of your info.

Automated notices already happen in lots of other contexts. But they should become even more routine. Whenever someone checks your credit, you should find out about it.

Comments:

Why do you say it's wire fraud? Don't you have to get something of monetary value to be committing fraud? Merely calling someone up and saying things that are untrue isn't fraud, e.g., DJs doing on-air pranks, or bad little children like I used to be, etc.

Suppose I wrote a blog comment in which I pretended to be a soldier in Iraq, or a law professor, or gay, or any of a hundred things I am not, would that be wire fraud? Although I'm sure the Justice Department would be willing to argue that I am defrauding the blog readers of their right to honest discussion. But that's not the law.
 

The pretexter did get something of monetary value, information. Indeed, the pretexter was paid by HP for getting the info.
 

I agree with Matt. I had a poor choice of words in saying "something of value." I should have said "property."

I'll really be amazed if any of the grandstanding prosecutors involved in this case can make a criminal charge stick.
 

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