New York Judge Rules Against Facebook In Search Warrant Case

itwbennett writes: Last year, Facebook appealed a court decision requiring it to hand over data, including photos and private messages, relating to 381 user accounts. (Google, Microsoft, and Twitter, among other companies backed Facebook in the dispute). On Tuesday, Judge Dianne Renwick of the New York State Supreme Court ruled against Facebook, saying that Facebook has no legal standing to challenge the constitutionality of search warrants served on its users.

Comments

Nonsense law still can't be ignored

[cloud.pt]

You reap what you sow, they say. The real problem was the conjuncture alignment that induced public interest letting pass such laws, and the lack of action, after its consequences are visible. I believe most tech companies are simply protecting their users to the best of their ability by attempting to stall such warrants. It's the only thing they can do, they can't be expected to win legal battles against solid, yet nonsensical legislation put in place that gives omnipotence for state supervision of private data. I can't even blame judges for this: a decent state lawyer only needs know the legislation which umbrellas the warrant, and provide proof all was done within its procedures.

Re: Makes sense to me

[msobkow]

You're talking about something completely different. I'm talking about when you have the opportunity to challenge the validity of a warrant. If you're never charged and never defending yourself, I don't believe you have an opportunity to challenge the validity of a warrant.

But your argument is specious at best. There have been numerous examples of government agencies using information obtained by the secret warrants, only to claim it was a "traffic stop" instead of a targeted drug search. The abuse of information obtained by secret warrants is a known fact and not up for discussion just because you're a government shill.

Re:Makes sense to me

[jedidiah]

Except society has no rights.

The government also has not rights. It has a limited number of powers that are restricted by the constitution.

Modern pop culture has this flipped where government gets to do anything they want and it's individuals that are stuck on an ever shrinking island of rights that must be explicitly stated.