Facebook Posts Mined For Courtroom Evidence

littlekorea writes "Defense lawyers are increasingly gaining permission from US courts to mine the private comments and postings on Facebook accounts to be used as evidence during trials. The first example — noted in Slashdot in September — has given way to an avalanche of new cases — and a worrying precedent that judges consider social networking content to be public data."

Comments

Re:Public they are

[Richard_at_work]

Forensic traces at a crime scene dont have to swear an oath either, and they can be used in court as evidence - you seem to be misconstruing testimony and evidence.

Its quite simple - if the network in question can provide enough information to suggest "this account posted this text on this date from this address" and the lawyers can provide enough corroborating evidence to allow a reasonable person to accept that as a truth, then its good enough to be used in a court. If you dont want it used, dont post it - or dont allow a third party to hold it.

This is not new nor is it news.

[davev2.0]

So many people here miss something very important. Almost anything, whether it is public or private, can be used as evidence in a trial, whether civil or criminal, if it is properly subpoenaed and collected.

Your diary, your Facebook postings, the contents of your computer and cell phone, and your mail, it doesn't matter what it is as long as it is properly subpoenaed and collected.

There is no story here. It has been like this for centuries. The court can order access to almost everything considered private.