http://ow.ly/7PAr9
An article by Calli Varner on the e-Discovery Law Review website of Cozen O'Connor.
This article discusses a specific case involving a personal injury claim, and a defendant's request in a Pennsylvania State case seeking access to information the plaintiff posted on her Facebook page.
In the referenced case, Largent v. Reed, Case No. 2009-1823 (C.P. Franklin Nov. 8, 2011), the plaintiff objected to the disclosure of her information on several grounds, including that the information sought was personal, and was not relevant to the case.
The article states, "...the photographs depicting Plaintiff with her family and status updates about exercising at the gym are “clearly relevant” because they might prove that Plaintiff’s injuries do not exist or that they are exaggerated.
The Court found that Plaintiff’s Facebook information is not privileged. Information on Facebook is shared with third parties and, thus, there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in such information. In addition, Pennsylvania law does not recognize a confidential social networking privilege. As Judge Walsh explained, “[o]nly the uninitiated or foolish could believe that Facebook is an online lockbox of secrets.” Further, Plaintiff’s information was not protected by the Stored Communications Act, which prevents the government from compelling Internet Service Providers (ISP) from disclosing information about their users because the information was sought directly from Plaintiff, who is not an ISP."
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