The case involved a New York woman who was injured after falling out of an office chair. The woman, named Kathleen Romano, filed a lawsuit against the chair’s manufacturer. The manufacturer was skeptical about the true reason behind the woman’s injuries after seeing public Facebook photos of a smiling Romano outside her home instead of on a hospital bed. Her profile also revealed she took a vacation to Floria right after she allegedly received the severe injuries. The manufacturer believed there might be more evidence from private posts, so they requested access to her Facebook MySpace accounts.
Facebook refused to give them access to Romano’s profile because it would violate a federal law. But the judge disagreed, arguing that otherwise, privacy settings could allow people to hide relevant evidence.
The court also reminded that MySpace does have a warning on its website to remind users that their profiles and forums are public spaces. Facebook’s privacy policy says ” “You post User Content . . . on the Site at your own risk. Although we allow you to set privacy options that limit access to your pages, please be aware that no security measures are perfect or impenetrable.”
Even though a California case recently ruled differently on a similar issue, what do you think about private messages playing a role in court?
