Police using social media as vital tool
STATEN ISLAND, NEW YORK: Do we need any further of a push not to use Facebook? Erm, no. Take Melvin Colon for example, an ex-gang member who is now facing murder charges on top of weapons charges following being busted via the popular social networking site.
According to CNN, friends of Colon agreed to give authorities access to his private Facebook page earlier this week following revelations that he was posting photos that featured gang signs, and past posts that admitted to unsolved crimes.
A judge ruled that because Colon shared such things via the social site, there wasn’t anything he could do to protect his privacy whatsoever.
Colon’s legitimate expectation of privacy ended when he disseminated posts to his ‘friends’ because those ‘friends’ were free to use the information however they wanted — including sharing it with the government,” the judge wrote.
Related articles
- Police embrace social media as crime-fighting tool (cnn.com)
- Judge Rules That What You Post On Facebook Can Be Used As Evidence Against You (outsidethebeltway.com)
- ‘Friends’ can share your Facebook profile with the government, court rules (gigaom.com)
- Gang Members Arrested After Friending Cop on Facebook (blogs.lawyers.com)
- Judge: Your Facebook Friends Can Legally Show Cops Your Profile (webpronews.com)
- Your Fourth Amendment rights don’t apply to Facebook (betanews.com)
