Facebook is going to court over letting law enforcement officials be able to access suspects’ profiles. Technically, they can do it, but Facebook wants them to have to let the person know before they do it.
The Washington Post reported:
“Major technology companies and civil liberties groups have joined Facebook in the case, which resembles legal challenges throughout the country from technology companies that oppose how the government seeks access to internet data in emails or social media accounts during criminal investigations.”
Facebook is arguing that this court order violates the First Amendment rights of the company and its users. A spokesman for the D.C. Appeals Court declined to comment and many of the documents surrounding the case have been sealed. Many of the hearings have been closed to the public.
In April, a D.C. Superior Judge denied Facebook’s request to end the gag order. They did allow Facebook to seek outside legal help, and the social media giant gathered several legal briefs supporting them.
ABC News reports:
“The timing of the investigation and references in court documents that have been made public suggest the search warrants relate to demonstrations during President Donald Trump’s inauguration, when more than 200 people were charged with rioting, the newspaper reported.”
“The search warrants at the crux of the case seek ‘all contents of communications, identifying information and other records’ and designate three accounts for a three-month period in each request, according to a Facebook court filing.”
“… In the last six months of 2016, Facebook reported about 41,000 requests for information from the government and said it provided data in 83 percent of those cases.”
This is a fine line here. People have the right to privacy, but if there is a crime involved then law enforcement personnel need information. Sometimes, they need information to find perpetrators, but people still have First Amendment rights. It’s a fine line.
Featured image via YouTube screenshot.
