Can Cops Poke Into Your Facebook Stuff?

Of course it would be for those pernicious insurance suits against disabled people desperate for income when they cannot work at any job in the US economy, and have to fight, while ill, to get some money to live. A dirty business, by cynics who think there is something desirable about being disabled. Important, too, to remember that facebook messages are visible only to the person you sent it, but all those messages are visible to the police and insurance companies. Sobering thoughts.

sounds like facebook is simply engaging in more spin, as you suspect.

I have watched our rights be slowly stripped in the name of security for awhile now. I actually was under the impression this was already taking place. I was denied a position with my local police department a few years back because I was told that a a public position was a glass window and my Facebook account had a close friend who was a musician "rapper". The position was denied at the second interview due to my social media content. It's a shame it has come to this.

So much on facebook is exaggeration anyway...It's a place for some folks to shamelessly brag about things they do; don't do; and usually know nothing about. The use of facebook has drifted so far from the usual/original intention.

If you do not want information to be public, don't post it online. If it is online, anybody can hack it, or copy it a million times(including this comment).

Hi Bob. I get the feeling you're leaning toward Facebook being not so unwitting in this matter. If so, I agree with you. If FB has such lame counsel why should we entrust them with a bit of our data? I haven't liked FB from the beginning, when they were difficult to use, not supportive, and generally secretive and obscure. And they've only been getting worse since! There's a reason they're free: they're making money secretly mining & marketing our data! I don't trust FB as far as I can pick them up and throw them. But then again, I feel generally the same way of law enforcement. So...

So where is the persons of the FB account warrant. Why is face book being served? You serve the person and then FB is forced to give the access called for in the warrant. They have to have probable cause for a warrant. Why is this end run around the person and their rights not being fought?

I understand the law part of this but I don't buy into Facebook's part. We don't have enough privacy with Facebook or any other social media!

Don't post really personal stuff. What I post I don't care who looks at them. Facebook is a tool. Not good, Bad or Evil.

I can't believe that anyone still believes that there is "privacy" in America today. Especially not on Facebook. Every form of electronic, telephonic, financial, personal, social media, and written communication is subject to being intercepted and read by someone other than who it was directed at. It is the price we pay for living in the digital age! Instant communication devices are hacked everyday. Even if you live off the grid, drones can fly over your house and snoop in on your conversations and photograph you. Thank God they cannot yet read our thoughts--but that is probably coming.

I have no expectation of privacy on social media and don't think anyone should.

I can't buy it, either. And the price is right.

I cannot agree with Sarah. What she has posted is only a partial truth. There are many that deliberately do everything in their power to get a check when they could work. There are those, as she accurately says, that are, in fact, incapable of gainful employment. To err by supporting one end of this spectrum (people receiving disability benefits) while denying the existence of the others is an error. We should help our fellow man, it is expected, but there is no obligation to support our fellowman's laziness and bad habits.

Excellent and thought-provoking article al always. Thanks, Bob

I am constantly amused by some people who look at Facebook as if it is inherently evil. Just like another US corporations, the primary purpose is to make money and not as an altruistic charity organization. It would serve corporations no good in the long run if they lose their customers' trust because customers themselves are looking out for their own self-interests too and always vote with their feet to find other things for free-loading, LOL.

And that is precisely why I don't have a Facebook account.

I've never had a Facebook (or other social media) account and never felt the need for one, although I can see if one does feel the need, one should be sensible about what one reveals. That is, if you put any value on your privacy.
How hard is that?
Send them a message. Vote with your feet. Cancel your Facebook account.
The search for connection need not require you to let it all hang out.
Not even your friends need to know all your business.

Oh come now, Bob. Surely you're not suggesting that Facebook is a cynical, profiteering organisation? Next you'll be suggesting that the D.A. involved is a self-serving, re-election seeking, publicity-mad egoist with no regard for your constitution.....

I never have - and never will, use Facebook, Gmail, Yahoo, Twitter, LinkedIn or Dropbox!!

One way to consider this is: You [or a policeman] looks in a window, and you see a bloody body on the floor. If you're absolutely certain that the body is dead, then you have probable cause for a search warrant.[If you believe you can render aid -not dead- you must break the window to get inside to help the person. In a similar vain, if you hit someone with your car, you must stop to try to render aid. Otherwise, it is a hit-and-run. These are physical events, not electrons in the ether. Maybe this - maybe that. Whatever, don't be stupid and post things that may come back to bite you!