The Florida State College of Law Research Center Blog

Employer's Access of MySpace Group Page

Interesting article on issues of freedom of speech and privacy relating to a password protected MySpace page.  Two employees of a restaurant were fired after management gained access to a password protected MySpace account where employees had made derogatory statements about the restaurant and management.  Here's an excerpt:

The court also found that there were jury issues on the
plaintiffs’ privacy and public policy claims. The New
Jersey Supreme Court has held that New Jersey
employees have a right of privacy in the workplace. That
right of privacy extends to any areas in which employees
have a “reasonable expectation” of privacy, i.e., to areas
where it is reasonable to assume that the employer will
not have access. In Pietrylo, the District Court ruled that
there was an issue of fact as to whether the plaintiffs, as
members of the MySpace group, had a reasonable
expectation that no one outside the invited group would
ever gain access. The court recognized that any member
of the group could lawfully reveal the contents of the
MySpace page to any other person. The court reasoned,
however, that a jury must decide whether it was
reasonable to assume that others would gain access to
group through duress. Since the court found a factual
issue on duress, it also found a factual issue on whether
the company violated the plaintiffs’ right of privacy.

Read the whole article here:

Posted by Jon Lutz

Textual Misconduct

A recent article in Slate discusses the legal implications of sexting.  Sexting is the name for sending nude photos via a cell phone.  In a recent case in Greensburg, Pa. three teenage girls were arrested for sexting their boyfriends.  The girls were charged with child pornography and the boys with possession. Teenagers participate in this behavior without realizing the potential legal consequences.  But there are concerns about applying child pornography laws to this crime.  Here's an excerpt from the article:

The argument for hammering every such case seems to be that allowing nude images of yourself to go public may have serious consequences, so let's nip it in the bud by charging kids with felonies, which will assuredly have serious consequences. In the Pennsylvania case, for instance, a police captain explained that the charges were brought because "it's very dangerous. Once it's on a cell phone, that cell phone can be put on the Internet where everyone in the world can get access to that juvenile picture." The argument that we must prosecute kids as the producers and purveyors of kiddie porn because they are too dumb to understand that their seemingly innocent acts can hurt them goes beyond paternalism. Child pornography laws intended to protect children should not be used to prosecute and then label children as sex offenders.

Read the whole article here.

Posted by Jon Lutz

Spokeo

Spokeo is a search service based on social networks.  Based on a users email address Spokeo looks at 40 different social networks to find information about that person.  This is a good way to track all your friends activities on various social networks.  But also, and maybe more importantly, especially for anyone entering the job market, is to search oneself to see what information might be available to a perspective employer. 

Try it at www.spokeo.com.

Posted by Jon Lutz

A "Digital Scarlet Letter" Hat-trick

                                                

Remember the plight of Nathanial Hawthorne's fictional Hester Prynne?  She was condemned to wear a red "A" for adultery as a shameful reminder of her past sin.  George Washington University Law Professor and internationally known privacy expert Daniel J. Solove has written that:

          "The Internet is bringing back the scarlet letter in digital form -- an
            indelible record of people's misdeeds... We must protect privacy  to
        `  ensure  that the freedom of the Internet doesn't make us less free."
                                              (The Future of Reputation, p.11)                     

Chances are you remember reading about the young South Korean girl riding on the subway with her little dog.  The dog did what dogs do, and things got ugly when she refused to clean up after him.  Indignant fellow passengers posted pictures of the "incident" on a popular South Korean blog, and the girl was soon identified, parodied and ridiculed in media around the world.

How many of us have seen the numerous "humorously" doctored videos of the repeatedly-humiliated high schooler dirisively called "Star Wars Boy" on You-Tube?

And hasn't everyone heard horror stories of pictures and descriptions of long-ago youthful indiscretions surfacing via a Google search when the transgressor applies for a job or professional license?

Today anyone can post anything about themselves or others, good or bad, true or untrue via blogs, e-mail, social networking Websites, and photo and video sharing Websites that invite any and all submissions.  Where does my need to express myself end, and your right to privacy begin?   Now that I have the potential for a worldwide audience, should I still have the freedom to share information that may prove to be of perpetual humiliation to others?  To again quote Professor Solove:

             "What makes the issues so complex is that there are important values on both
             sides.  Protecting people's privacy sometimes can be achieved only by
              curtailing free speech...The difficulty is that we often want both...There is
              no clear winner in the battle between privacy and free speech.  Both are
              essential to our freedom."     (The Future of Reputation, p.12) 

The College of Law Research Center has three of Daniel Solove's books on privacy --

• The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor, and Privacy on the Internet (Yale Univ. Press, 2007)

• The Digital Person: Technology and Privacy in the Information Age (NYU Press, 2004)

• Information Privacy Law  (Aspen Publishers, 2006)

Check them out to read what Solove has to say about establishing a balance between privacy and free speech.  You can also read Professor Solove's  musings on "The Law, the Universe, and Everything " on his blog  "Concurring Opinions."

Posted by Patricia Bingham-Harper