http://www.courthousenews.com/2010/02/18/24801.htm
A current court case could change the idea of privacy on facebook.
A off duty Illinios cop shot an man in a bar parking lot is now requesting via his attorney access to 23 profiles. The profiles are all members of a facebook group called "Jeff Bladdick is a bulletproof badass" Jeff Bladdick was the man shot. The cops lawyer cites the 2000 act called Electronic Communication Privacy Act which allows law enforcement the right to access Electronic Communications for there records. The lawyer states " If law enforcement is entitiled to those records, it seems inherently flawed to not allow a criminally accused person who's looking at 30 years in prison to the same information when it is clear that something was said"
This case should change the way we look at privacy and facebook. As librarians we should also be concerned with the privacy of our patrons. Some libraries are using facebook as a source of outreach. Which is good in one respect. Getting the libraries message out to as many people as we can . But could lead to an invasion of privacy. This case would open up Facebook profiles to access in a crimial court then how private is Facebook?
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