Social networking has become a new age phenomenon. Facebook, MySpace, Linkedin and Twitter have created platforms for friends, business colleagues and often strangers to connect. Users can post pictures, videos, comments and messages. The spectrum of information runs from the very private, who share limited access, to what I call the “Serial Facebookers” who chronicle every moment of their lives, from the interesting to the inane. Facebook boasts over 300 million active users followed by MySpace with 100 million active accounts.
The advent of computer social networking has coined a new type of crime: cyber stalking. Information on where the user lives, phone numbers, schools attended, friends and activities can give the potential stalker a personal road map. Add to that a bevy of pictures, often displaying the Facebooker wasted at some frat party or describing some other social excesses. What emerges is a profile of a potential victim.
Users can limit who may access their private information by allowing access only to “friends.” Friends are people who have requested access to you and whom you approve. Information can be published only for friends but Facebook allows “Friends of friends” to access your pages. You cannot control this expansion of your cyber universe.
Future employers, your boss, your teacher and your parents can often gain access to what you believe is a side of you that you are sharing with a limited few. Routinely, in litigation we are seeking information on social networking sites about potential witnesses and adversaries. Cyber stalkers gain access to this wealth of personal information that feeds their obsessions and empowers their eventual access to their intended victims.
Recently cases have been reported where cyber stalkers have been sued or prosecuted as a result of vicious, demeaning posts. In Connecticut it is a crime to use a computer to harass or threaten another:
If the cyber stalker has a previous serious felony conviction the level of crime is elevated to Harassment int he First Degree, a five year felony.
Victims are now striking back and seeking production of social network posts and pages. In a recent federal lawsuit in Connecticut District Court Judge, Janet Arterton, ordered the production of over 650 pages of Facebook posts. The minor plaintiff had sued Miss Porter’s School claiming that she had been the victim of harassment and bullying that led to her suspension and an attempt to expel her. Her alleged taunters had reportedly used text messaging and internet posts. The plaintiff subpoenaed pages from her own Facebook account that she could no longer access and the defendants sought an order that all of the Facebook pages be produced, asserting that those posts would reveal information describing the plaintiff’s own conduct. In ordering the production of most of these pages to the defense, Judge Arterton observed: “Facebook usage depicts a snapshot of the user’s relationships and state of mind at the time of the content’s posting. ”
Criminal sanctions, and civil damages await the cyber stalker or reckless posts. Users, and especially parents of youngsters permitted access to these sites, should understand that comments posted in the seeming safety of one’s study or dorm room that are thrown out to the cyber universe are there for all to see, for all time. As my son’s high school coach often said, “Actions have consequences.” So do computer key strokes!
Rich Meehan,, is a senior partner in the law firm of Meehan, Meehan & Gavin, LLP, Bridgeport, CT. For more information on Rich or his firm you can access them at www.meehanlaw.com or www.ctdentalmalpracticelawyer.com, or email him at rtm@meehanlaw.com.
