Courts Look To Facebook, Online Behavior When Ruling on Cases

Vivian Song has a well written article in the Toronto Sun that looks at how courts are taking online behavior into account when making rulings and handing down sentences. Quoting from the page:

Be careful what you post on Facebook or MySpace, because anything you say or upload can and will be used against you in a court of law.

Last year, for example, an Ottawa court heard that a civil servant had started a clandestine affair with an old friend she reconnected with through Facebook during a messy custody battle involving three kids.

In a Vancouver courtroom last month, defendants in a personal injury case produced photos from the plaintiff’s Facebook profile showing that while Myla Bagasbas was seeking ,000 in damages for pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment after a car accident, she was still able to kayak, hike and bike post-accident.

The fluid nature of real world identity is then contrasted with the still somewhat stunted world on online relationships:

While we’re able to compartmentalize and separate people in our lives offline by assigning titles to different spheres — co-workers, neighbours, family — the online world fails to recognize those distinctions.

The article then looks at how employers are relying on Google searches and social networking profiles to screen job applicants in the digital age. ReputationDefender CEO Michael Fertik is quoted as an expert.

“A resume is no longer what you send to your employer,” said ReputationDefender CEO Michael Fertik. “More people look at Google as a resume.”

But instead of authenticating information found online, people are trusting secondary material and treating Google like God.

“What happens is in a court of law, you have to prove something beyond a reasonable doubt. On the Internet though, many decisions are based on lower standards,” Fertik said.

But is sanitizing a person’s online reputation of unflattering content an infringement of freedom of speech and freedom of expression?

“Only if you believe Google is the best and most accurate source of information,” Fertik said. “But I don’t think Google is God. I believe Google is a machine.”

ReputationDefender Blog recently covered the second article that Ms. Song wrote for this three part tech series and we are pleased to be mentioned in this final piece, as well.