Facebook stunt lands guy in jail

facebook website attorneyToo often, as a Website attorney, I see domestic disputes turn into online stalking and harassment. Then there’s this case involving a guy who went nuts when his girlfriend broke up with him.

In this case, the guy threatened his ex, stole her stuff, and then decided to get “revenge” using Facebook as the weapon. He posted a naked pic of her on Facebook and made it public so that a half billion FB users had access to it, including her friends.

Arrested and convicted for distributing the photo, the guy will be spending only 4 months in jail for the stunt.

Your Website attorney will tell you that there are at least two important lessons to learn from this…

1. Don’t take (or let anyone else take) pics or video of you that could embarrass you in the future. It can and will come back to haunt you somehow…often permanently cached somewhere on the Internet.

2. If you have anyone doing work on your Internet business (employee or independent contractor), you’ll want to have a Social Media Policy in place that protects your reputation and limits your liability exposure for what they put on Facebook and other social media sites while doing work for you.

To your online success!

-Mike the Website attorney

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Can you believe someone would do this to a dying 7-year old girl?

Web lawyer privacyKathleen’s mother died of a brain disease when only 24 years old. Kathleen at age 7 is also dying of the same disease.

Neighbors have posted a pic of her mom on Facebook with the Grim Reaper. Kathleen gets similar treatment with a photo containing cross bones. h/t Parents: Dying Girl, 7, Taunted by Neighbors in Trenton.

When I wrote “Are Internet sociopaths out to get you?,” this is exactly the type of horrible conduct I was talk about. As a Web lawyer, I become increasingly cynical every time I see heart-rending stories like this one.

Unfortunately, blogs, forums, and social media tools like Facebook make it easy for sociopaths, psychopaths, and the permanently stupid to hurt people without consequences.

This partially explains the increasing awareness and demand for online privacy rights by Internet users. It also explains why privacy and personal safety are becoming big issues.

The same tools that are used to ridicule a dying little girl can just as easily be abused to stalk her or worse.

That’s why you should separate yourself from the crowd by making it clear to your website visitors that you respect privacy rights. You do this with your website privacy policy and your site’s content.

Whether you’ll be legally required to do so is one thing. Talk with your Web lawyer about what you’re supposed to be doing. Regardless, protecting privacy and treating people with respect is the right thing to do.

To your online success!

-Mike the Web lawyer

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