Social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are meant to serve as online communities where people throughout the country are able to publicly share information about themselves and connect with others. Many people choose to share pictures or comments in their daily activities without ever realizing that any and all information they post on social networking sites can be considered public information and used as evidence against them in a family court. A recent survey of family law attorneys across the country found that 81% of divorce lawyers reported seeing an increase in the use of Facebook and other social networking sites as evidence in divorce cases.
In messy divorces or custody battles, lies, and uncovering lies, become a top priority. Indeed, during family disputes it is not uncommon for parties to dig deep for a little evidence that will show the other party in a bad light. One of the biggest examples involves deadbeat dads. Time and time again, a father will claim not to have enough money to pay child support, but then post to their Facebook profile evidence of a recent vacation or large purchase. This is now prime evidence in divorce cases to be used as completely fair game in a family law trial. Even further, private emails, or emails a sender may think is private, are now fair game in divorce trials as well.
With the advent of the use of social media profiles in divorce and other legal trials, most lawyers are now recommending the removal of any profile public when involved in a legal proceeding. But unfortunately this may not be enough, and a good divorce lawyer can get a subpoena to retrieve the old or deleted profile. More than that, deleting an email will not be enough either, since technology experts are able to uncover emails, whether sent or received, whether deleted or not. Does this mean the loss of privacy in the technology age?
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