I was born on Jan. 31, but I’ve always wanted a summer birthday. I set my Facebook birthday for Monday, July 11. Then, after July 11, I reset it for Monday, July 25. Then I reset it again for Thursday, July 28. Facebook doesn’t verify your birthday, and doesn’t block you from commemorating it over and over again. If you were a true egomaniac, you could celebrate your Facebook birthday every day.
He noted that for July 11th, he received 119 birthday wishes via Facebook. Four close friends were confused, but “most of them attributed the confusion to their own faulty memories.” When July 25th came around, he received another 105 birthday wishes. The number of people suspecting something was up was nine. The really stunning thing:
Of the 105 birthday wishes, 45 of them—nearly half—came from people who had wished me a Facebook happy birthday two weeks earlier.
On July 28th, just three days later, when it was his birthday again, he still ended up with 71 birthday wishes.
Casquette cast: Mallesh Pai.
Cheap Talk 
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September 29, 2011 at 11:34 am
Alan Gunn
As it happens, it’s a federal crime to make an untrue statement on Facebook. Only a misdemeanor, although the Justice Department is trying to get Congress to make it a felony. But since one can hardly go through life without committing federal crimes on a daily basis there’s probably nothing to worry about, unless the government takes an interest in the poster for other reasons. Still, if you do something like this it’s probably best not to admit it in public.
September 29, 2011 at 3:04 pm
Anonymous
Alan, can you illuminate me and explain why it’s a federal crime to make an untrue statement on Facebook? Any url?
September 29, 2011 at 3:05 pm
PR
Why is a crime to make a untrue statement on Facebook? Any url?
September 29, 2011 at 3:55 pm
Alan Gunn
The problem is the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, enacted in 1986 and expanded just about every year since, by the “Patriot Acts” and other legislation. The part that seems to get you for making a false statement just about anywhere on the internet is the prohibition on accessing any computer “used in or affecting interstate commerce” (i.e. connected to the Internet) if your use exceeds “authorized access.” I understand that Facebook’s rules prohibit untruth, though I don’t do Facebook myself and don’t know for sure. There are also prohibitions on using that kind of computer to perpetrate a fraud; I have never looked at the details of this, however. Orin Kerr, at The Volokh Conspiracy (volokh.com) has blogged about this extensively, most recently, I think, on May 24 of this year. Nobody really knows just what the limits are; some courts have refused to give it a literal interpretation. Read literally, if your boss says “don’t use our email system for personal stuff” and you do, you’ve committed a federal crime. Justice is asking Congress for an upgrade to felony and for mandatory minimums. They are not asking for clarification of what the statute means.
In a world in which it’s a federal felony to fold a sheet of paper into the shape of an airplane and give it to another person (Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act), this shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. The idea seems to be to criminalize as much as possible and rely on prosecutorial discretion to keep people who art of jail.