According to CNN, a federal judge recently ruled that law enforcement officials may create fake social media profiles to obtain access to a suspect's social media account. The police may entice suspects to "friend" them and use the information gleaned from their Facebook, Instagram, etc... accounts against them in court.
This ruling is not surprising. The police have utilized moles and undercover agents to gain access to crime syndicates and gangs for years and this ruling appears to extend this practice to the Digital Age. As long as the "friending" is mutual, meaning that a suspect allows a "fake profile" to access their account the "search" may be deemed consensual.
Facebook has protested law enforcement's use of fake profiles in the past. For example, several months ago, Facebook sent a letter to the DEA to demand that it stop creating fake accounts on their platform. Facebook cares about this issue, not because of the privacy implications to its users, but because it may interfere with its ability to monetize the data being created on their platforms. A fake account is worthless to data brokers, advertisers, etc....
I don't encourage anyone who values their privacy to utilize Facebook to post personal information. Everything one posts to Facebook may end up in the hands of data brokers, law enforcement officials, etc... Facebook is an advertising platform and its users are the products it sells to marketers and data brokers. I don't trust Facebook with my personal information. Should you?
Copyright 2014 by Shear Law, LLC. All rights reserved.
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