Actually, that would very much be cheating, cipisor. It's the same as leaning over to the guy sitting next to you in a casino and asking him what his cards are, and he
tells you. The only difference is, the act cannot be observed by a dealer or boss when playing on the internet. However, if the
online poker room picks up on the collusion by examining the betting patterns, which would be their only real way of knowing, those players would definitely be kicked permanently off the site. Happens all the time. The poker room reserves the right to prohibit anyone from playing. And, if the amount of money involved in the tainted games was large enough to justify the trouble, I imagine that federal criminal charges could be filed, as the fraud was carried out over phone lines under FCC regulation.
Logistics aside, I sincerely hope we haven't yet stooped to a low point where honesty and dishonesty are defined by whether or not we'll get caught.