As an Internet attorney, I don’t find it surprising that courts are giving the government access to personal information associated with social media accounts like Twitter and Facebook.
This means lawyers are probably going to get their hands on the same type of information in any lawsuits against you.
Here’s the latest example…
The U.S. federal government has just been granted access to all the Twitter account info for individuals who may have been involved with the WikiLeaks’ release of classified documents.
The court is giving the government information from the Twitter accounts that includes…
• Real names of account holders
• Email addresses tied to the Twitter accounts
• IP addresses used to Tweet
• User connection records
This includes Twitter account info for users both in the United States and living elsewhere who may be involved.
Why is this important?
The court rejected claims that this type of information was protected by the First Amendment or by privacy rights.
Why no protection?
The information was free to be released because it had been voluntarily provided by the Tweeters when they set up their accounts and agreed to Twitter’s Privacy Policy. This means you should carefully read a website privacy policy and have your Internet attorney explain anything you don’t understand before handing over information you’d like to keep confidential.
To your online success!
-Mike the Internet attorney
