Facebook pages make great evidence
We all know – or at least we should know – some important characteristics of the information we post on social networks. One, it’s public. Two, it’s public. And three, even your private information can be found if someone wants it badly enough (in other words, it’s public). I know this, and so should you. But while researching a paper on social networking sites for my information technology class (which is awesome, by the way), I came across some facts that reminded me once again of the publicity of Facebook.
I was researching the potential uses of Facebook by law enforcement personnel – the kind of stories we’ve all heard by now, about the police who track down dumb and not-so-dumb criminals through their Facebook post, photos, or status updates. But I also ran into some stories about average Facebook users who found their pages being used as evidence against them.
In some of those cases, the charges were criminal, as in a USA Today story about three individuals who in one case injured and in the others killed other people while driving drunk (http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2008-07-19-facebook-trials_N.htm). In each case, prosecutors found Facebook photos of the defendants, taken after the crashes, in which they were drinking. One young man even posted a picture of himself wearing a prisoner costume at a party – a joking reference to the fact that he had a court case pending. For all three defendants, their Facebook information became character evidence that landed them with harsher sentences – more years in prison.
Other stories revolved around civil cases where, not surprisingly, Facebook evidence played a star role in divorce cases. According to a story in the ABA Journal, 81% of divorce lawyers reported an increase of evidence springing from social networking sites over the past five years. (http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/facebook_is_unrivaled_leader_for_online_divorce_evidence_survey_says/)
It’s sobering to think of the impulsiveness that characterizes so many Facebook decisions, especially when those decisions could be staring you in the face in court one day. The way to prevent that happening is obvious: don’t cheat on your spouse and don’t drink and drive. But sometimes the unexpected happens. If it does, the last thing you want to worry about is whether you incriminated yourself because you couldn’t think twice about the information you shared.
Ultimately, the use of social media as a source for legal evidence should remind us once again of the publicity and permanence of online information. Posting is like publishing. No matter how much you may think it is, it’s not the same as talking to a friend, unless you assume that all of your friends are bugged.
In a very real way, this is all very cool. We can record our most momentary thoughts permanently, give them the eternal life that information attains once it’s put online. We just have to remember that they can be seen by anyone with the right amount of know-how, or a warrant.
I’m going to try to drive this home to myself by saying “Hello, world,” after every post or upload. Eeeeeeevery single one. I’m serious (or at least kind of). Maybe it will remind me that it may not be read only by the friend who’s wall I’m posting on (and her friends, of course, and their friends, if she allows it, and so on) or seen by just the friends I tag, but by everyone – and their lawyer.
