[Web4lib] The Fourth Amendment and Facebook Privacy

[Gerry Mckiernan]

Colleagues/

In light of recent news relating to social networking sites and criminal or administrative prosecutions
e.g., 
Threat on MySpace Leads to Expulsion
[ http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=2041]

MySpace Photo Blocks Teacher's Degree
[ http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=0010004EEEZH]

Southern Miss student arrested on threat charge
[ http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070419/NEWS01/704190303/1002 ]

Facebook and Other Social-Networking Sites Raise Questions for Administrators
[ http://chronicle.com/weekly/v52/i48/48a02901.htm],

I believe that a recent law review article titled _The Fourth Amendment and Privacy Issues on the "New" Internet: Facebook.com and MySpace.com_ by Matthew J. Hodge [ 31 S. Ill. U. L. J. 95 ] will be of great interest by all

CONCLUDING PARAGRAPH FROM ABSTRACT:
Facebook.com and MySpace.com have default settings which allow almost anyone to view a profile created on one of these Web sites. However, the sites also allow users to restrict access to their profiles to only those they accept or allow to view. This active step creates different issues with regards to a reasonable expectation of privacy. The Web sites also have privacy policies which allow them to collect information from users and store the profiles on their central systems. All of these features create issues a court would likely deal with when presented with Fourth Amendment inquiry. The Comment discusses these issues and ultimately concludes that in limited instances, a person should be entitled to a reasonable expectation of privacy on these Web sites.

Links to the full abstract for the article as well as The Full Text is available from within the _Friends_  posting
[ http://onlinesocialnetworks.blogspot.com/2007/05/fourth-amendment-and-facebook-privacy.html ]

I would very much appreciate Comments on this article, particularly its conclusion(s)

BTW: Due to ***another*** technical glitch, the webfeed for _Friends: Social Networking Sites for Engaged Library Services _,   " has had to be replaced (again)

The New New FeedBurner feed which is  available

[ http://feeds.feedburner.com/friendssocialnetworking  ]

Please visit _Friends_ [ http://onlinesocialnetworks.blogspot.com/ ] to subscribe if you have not already done so.

Thanks!

/Gerry 

Gerry McKiernan
Science and Technology Librarian 
Iowa State University Library 
Ames IA 50011

gerrymck at iastate.edu 

Iowa: Where the Tall Corn Flows and the (North)West Wind Blows