Twitter Hands Over Occupy Wall Street Tweets

According to The Associated Press, Twitter has complied with a judge's order to hand over the Tweets of an Occupy Wall Street protestor. Twitter was ordered by Judge Matthew Sciarrino Jr. to turn over the information by today or face steep fines if it refused to do so.

On April 23, 2012, I stated that, "Once a Tweet is public to the entire world you don't have an expectation of privacy even if the Tweet has been deleted. Former Congressman Anthony Weiner learned the hard way (no pun intended) that once you post something publicly you have no expectation of privacy.

On July 3, 2012, I stated that, "If the Tweets had been on a protected Twitter account then a warrant may have been required to access the Tweets. In general, I have no problem with law enforcement obtaining and utilizing social media evidence. However, the government must go through the proper legal channels to obtain, authenticate, and utilize social media evidence at trial.

On September 11, 2012, I stated, "while I applaud Twitter fighting for the digital privacy rights of its users, I believe that continuing to fight a subpoena for content that was once public is a losing battle. However, I believe that Twitter along with other social media companies should continue fighting for the personal privacy rights of its users."

There may be future situations where the facts may better support an expectation of privacy for the Tweeter. However, it appears that the Tweets requested by the Manhattan District Attorney were intended for the entire world to view after they were posted. Since the account that posted the requested Tweets did not activate its privacy settings, I believe it is very difficult to successfully argue that there is an expectation of privacy for the Tweets in question.

To learn how social media intersects with the law you may contact me at www.shearlaw.com.

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

Illinois Enacts Social Media Privacy Law

Illinois has become the third state to enact a law that pertains to social media privacy. Earlier this year, Maryland enacted a law that protects employers, employees, and job applicants and Delaware enacted a law that protects schools, students, and prospective students.

HB 3782 is now Public Act 097-0875 and will go into effect on January 1, 2013. The bill is modeled after Maryland's groundbreaking social media privacy legislation that became the first law in the country to specifically address an employee's digital right to privacy. At least 15 states have introduced social media privacy legislation along with Congress.

Employees and job applicants should still watch what they post online because anyone who has access to their posts may be able to re-post them or print them out for others to see. While an Illinois employer may not be able to require that an employee or job applicant provide access to one's password protected Facebook page or content as a condition for employment, one of your Facebook Friends can still freely contact your employer and send them your password protected digital content.

 

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