Facebook, privacy and newspapers

My April column for the South Carolina Press Association:

Facebook and its chief executive Mark Zuckerberg are being criticized far and wide for the company’s lax privacy practices after it was revealed that the political data firm Cambridge Analytica had used a seemingly innocuous personality test to collect data on 87 million Facebook users, which it combined with data from other sources to develop psychological profiles that were used in support of President Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Appeals Court Likes “Likes,” Says They’re Speech

(cross posted at the Gateway Journalism Review)
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that "liking" something on Facebook is speech protected by the First Amendment, reversing a lower court opinion dismissing a suit brought by former employees of a sheriff's office who lost their job after they "liked" the Facebook page of opponent of their boss in his re-election bid.

FYI: Social Media Can and Will Be Used Against You

Thanks to the ubiquity of cop shows on TV, we all know the prototypical Miranda warning (named after Miranda v. Arizona, which required the recitation): "You have the right to remain silent. If you give up that right, anything you say may be used against you in a court of law."

Perhaps social media should contain the same warning. Because, according to a survey by lawyers.com (h/t to my colleague Eric Goldman), a majority of social media users in the U.S. do not know that their posts, tweets, check-ins, and other social media material can be used as evidence in court.

Judge Threatens Jail for Juror's Online Research, Discussions

The Tampa Bay Times and Lawyers.com both report that a Florida judge who declared a mistrial in a capital murder case because of a juror's Internet research into a murder case and online discussions of a case led to a mistrial has been threatened the juror with jail time.

Appeal of Ruling that "Like" Isn't Like Speech

Back in May, I wrote about a decision by a federal judge that former employees of a county sheriff's office could not sue for political retaliation after they were fired for "liking" the Facebook page of the sheriff's political opponent.

Court Says "Like" Isn't Like Speech

FOR AN UPDATE OF THIS CASE, SEE THIS POST.

A federal judge has held -- in an opinion granting summary judgment in Bland v. Roberts, Civil No. 11-45 (E.D. Va.  Apr. 24, 2012) -- that "liking" a supervisor's political opponent on Facebook does not constitute speech that can be protected from political retaliation in a non-partisan government office.

"It is the Court's conclusion that merely 'liking' a Facebook page is insufficient speech to merit constitutional protection," District Judge Raymond A. Jackson held. Bland, slip op. at 6.

Court Disconnect: Judge Urges Jurors to Keep Off MySpace

One of the major problems with juror use of the Internet and social media -- and courts' attempts to stop it -- is the disconnect between judges and other court officials, who are generally older and less familiar with modern media tools and services, and jurors who are tech-savvy.

In U.S. First, Juror's Friend Request Leads to Jail Sentence

cross posted at the Citizen Media Law Project)
At a recent presentation during which I reviewed a number of cases and court rule changes regarding juror use of social media and the Internet during trial, an audience member asked me why American courts appeared to be so lax in the face of such juror misbehavior, such as the Texas case in which a juror who sent a "friend" request to the defendant in a personal injury case was sentenced to two days of community service.

Can CAN SPAM Apply to Social Media? Yes It Can.

(cross posted at the Citizen Media Law Project)
The regulation of commercial speech on social media sites continues to increase. In late March, a federal court in California held that Facebook postings fit within the definition of "commercial electronic mail message" under the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act ("CAN-SPAM Act;" 15 U.S.C. § 7701, et seq.). Facebook, Inc. v. MAXBOUNTY, Inc., Case No. CV-10-4712-JF (N.D. Cal. March 28, 2011).

Juror Penalized for Facebook Post

A Michigan juror was removed from the jury in a criminal trial and punished for contempt after posting a message on Facebook during trial stating that the defendant was guilty.

Teenage Taunts Are Not Defamation, Court Rules

A New York judge has dismissed a teenage girl's defamation claims against five fellow members of a private Facebook group, accessible only to members of the group.  Finkel v. Dauber, No. 012414/09, 2010 NY Slip Op 20292 (N.Y. Sup. Ct., Nassau County  order July 22, 2010).

Judge Proposes Facebook to Resolve Discovery Dispute

Eric Goldberg''s Technology & Marketing Law Blog reports on a federal magistrate in Tennessee who has proposed an innovative way to resolve a discovery dispute in a personal injury case. (The case is actually a little sexier than that: the plaintiff fell while dancing on the bar at the "Coyote Ugly" tavern in Nashville.)

Since the parties could not agree on discovery of Facebook information of the plaintiff and her witnesses, so that the defense could access pictures of the incident posted on the social networking site, Magistrate Joe B. Brown proposed an innovative solution: