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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."
I dunno, regardless of where you post, I've been brought up to believe that anything you submit online should be considered no more secure than whispering it into someones ear...
How Now Brown Cow
No, private comments aren't public data.
They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett
Some might argue that sex is a social activity (especially if multiple partners are involved) but few would argue that this makes it public fare.
It is if you post the results on Facebook.
When you have nothing left to burn you must set yourself on fire
I have to wonder how daft some of these commenters and commentators are if they believe this is new. If you're a 15 year old girl and your little brother reads your diary and notices that you confessed to filing false rape charges against your neighbor, his defense counsel could seize the diary as evidence if the brother told them about it. There is no "right to privacy" under the constitution in this respect. You have a right to not incriminate yourself. You have a right to not be subjected to overly broad or general searches and seizures. You have no right to a special place where you can say and do anything you want and it's all off limits to the courts.
I'm all in favor of making it tough for the police to get initial access to the data. I can't believe anyone would be worried that this would happen in the middle of a trial in front of a jury.
Well,
I'd consider "private" comments behind logins and passwords and invite-only friends lists to be "private". I'd think it is the same category as when you're not supposed to be recording people's phone calls - Facebook is succeeding getting people to "open up" because it's "private".
If courts are going to go all miranda on your "private" posts, then there's another ratchet in the big engine of the police state.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
Since when can the courts only use 'public' information as evidence? This whole thread is based on a flawed premise.
I don't know where you live, but in Canada, this constitutes uttering a death threat. This is a serious matter -- you call the police, they arrest him.
Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?