Tweeted Photo of Sex Abuse Victim Leads To Arrests

Sexual abuse is one of the worst crimes imaginable.  Abusers and rapists prey on those who are vulnerable and some of the perpetrators may do so because there is a good chance they may never be caught.

According to the Bureau of Justice, between 1992 and 2000 only 36 percent of rapes, 34 percent of attempted rapes, and 26 percent of sexual assaults were reported. Therefore, it appears that the majority of of sexual abuse is not reported and those who commit these crimes are never prosecuted.

In a very troubling case in New York City, four men were arrested for allegedly using an iPhone to take a photo(s) of a sexual abuse victim who was testifying and then uploading the photo to Twitter.  It appears that the four men who were arrested may be supporters of the defendant in the case.  

This situation demonstrates the need for the court system to create a unified digital device policy for everyone who participates in criminal and civil proceedings.  I have blogged about related digital device issues over and over so my hope is that eventually the entire court system will become more aware of the potential danger of not creating reasonable social media and digital device policies.  

To learn more about these issues you may contact me at www.shearlaw.com.

Copyright 2012 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC. All rights reserved.  

New York City Jury: YouTube Promise Costs Rapper $1 Million Dollars

Earlier this week, a musician testified in a New York court proceeding that he reneged on a promise he made to pay the person who found his missing laptop $1 million dollars. What makes this promise interesting is that the musician (Ryan Leslie) made the promise via a YouTube video.   The New York Post reported that Mr. Leslie tweeted his video to gain as much attention for his missing laptop as possible in the hopes that it would be returned.

Yesterday, Mr. Leslie was ordered to pay the $1 million dollar reward that he refused to honor.  The bottom line is that while utilizing social media if you are prepared to talk the talk you better also be willing to walk the walk or in this case pay the piper.  

To learn more about these issues you may contact me at www.shearlaw.com.

Copyright 2012 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC. All rights reserved.  

U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee: Warrant Needed To Read Email

Privacy law may soon catch up with the reality of the Digital/Social Media Age.  Today, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee voted to amend the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) to require that law enforcement officials obtain a warrant  before they access a suspect's personal digital account.

This is the first step in what may become a fundamental change in digital privacy for the United States.  The amendment still needs to be passed by the full Senate and then be passed in the House of Representatives and signed into law by President Obama.

While I am hopeful that Congress will act to strengthen privacy laws it is frustrating that it appears that the General Petraeus scandal may have been the catalyst for this issue.  The ECPA amendment was attached to HR 2471 which will update the Video Privacy Protection Act.

The bottom line is that if HR 2471 becomes law a warrant will be required to read one's personal digital communications.

To learn more about these issues you may contact me at www.shearlaw.com.

Copyright 2012 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC. All rights reserved. 

Is it a crime to intentionally Tweet false news on Twitter?

Hurricane Sandy will go down as one of the worst natural disasters in American history.  According to the latest news reports, more than 100 people have died from the storm and economic damages may surpass more than $50 billion dollars.

To make matters worse, looters have made some people afraid to leave their homes to obtain much needed supplies.  As a former New Yorker, my heart goes out to my friends and former neighbors who are dealing with this terrible tragedy. 

During the storm, many people were Tweeting and posting content online.  Some people were making predictions about the storm, others were discussing their greatest fears about the storm, some were asking for help, and others were Tweeting intentionally false and misleading information.  Were all of these posts protected by the 1st Amendment? 

One of those people who were allegedly making false and misleading Tweets during the storm was Shashank Tripathi.  For example, one of Tweets stated, "BREAKING: Confirmed flooding on NYSE. The trading floor is flooded under more than 3 feet of water."  This was an intentionally false Tweet.  However, intentionally misleading Tweets are generally protected under the 1st Amendment. 

New York City Councilman Peter Vallone, Jr. has stated that he has asked the Manhattan District Attorney to look into filing charges against Tripathi for his Tweets.  Under Brandenbury v. Ohio 395 U.S. 444 (1969), the Supreme Court held that the government cannot punish inflammatory speech unless that speech is directed to inciting, and is likely to incite imminent lawless action.  In addition, under U.S. v. Alvarez 132 S.Ct 2537 (2012) lying in some situations is constitutionally protected free speech. Was Mr. Tripathi's Tweets or online posts by others directed to inciting and likely to incite imminent lawless action?  Most likely not. Was Mr. Tripathi lying? It appears he was misrepresenting the truth.   

Regulating free speech is a very slippery slope.  During Hurricane Sandy, social media helped bring out the best in people and it has also has brought out the worst in others.  However, the storm should not be utilized as a reason to further regulate speech. 

To learn more about these issues you may contact me at www.shearlaw.com.

Copyright 2012 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC. All rights reserved.