Blog 2 - Legal Implications of Social Media

               Every day millions of people log into social networking sites to voice their opinion about anything and everything under the sun. We enjoy the ability to share information and our thoughts with a world audience in fractions of a second. We, as a free nation, enjoy being able to voice our opinions on anything and everything we please. Instead of actually using a verbally spoken language, we resort to online posts. The United States Constitution guarantees our right to free speech and every day millions of American’s enjoy that right. Our court system has been inundated with cases surrounding issues of free speech and privacy. Now, our court system has been forced to enter into a brand new arena. The concept of social media is a brand new phenomenon facing our nation today, being only a decade old. The founding fathers of our country could not fathom a socially connected world and therefore our constitution is not prepared to address such an issue. From a Criminal Justice standpoint, the most important issues arise when attempting to deal with cases involving the First and Fourth amendments to the U.S. Constitution. These amendments have largely not been evaluated to protect our rights as citizens in an online environment.

 In 2009, one Sheriff’s deputy in Virginia logged into his Facebook page and, just like any other day, voiced his opinion. That deputy no longer works for the Hampton, Virginia Sheriff’s Department. Deputy Daniel Ray Carter Jr. was fired for “liking” his boss’ political opponent’s Facebook page. Daniel Carter Jr. took his case to court claiming that the “like” of the page is protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.  Judge Raymond A. Jackson of the Eastern District of Virginia in Norfolk disagreed. The Federal Judge ruled against Daniel Carter stating that “Merely 'liking' a Facebook page is insufficient speech to merit constitutional protection (Hudson Jr.)” This was a huge blow to the millions of Facebook users in the United States and sent a stern message to users across the globe. The problem is that Carter did not actually “say” anything.  Free speech protects exactly that; speech. With more and more people expressing themselves online, the implication of such a case could result in complete censorship of expression. Free speech advocates and the American Civil Liberties Union disagree with the Judge’s ruling stating that the “like” button actually says the word “like” and contains a “thumbs up” which is an obvious symbol of expression. They state that this is an obvious form of expression and is therefore protected. Facebook even chimed in and stating that “liking” a political candidate on Facebook is the 21^st century equivalent to placing a campaign sign in your front yard (Gross). This case will continue to be debated over the next few years and ultimately the court system will determine if the Facebook “like” button is an act of free expression. This is a small case that will have lasting social implications. It is the beginning of a process that will be finely tuned over the next few decades as the social networking phenomenon will continue to progress and evolve. While we wait to discover the fate of the Facebook “like” button and its relation to free speech, another battle is being waged against social media and its protections under the fourth amendment.

“Existing Fourth Amendment doctrine is ill-equipped to handle the convergence of the public and the private (Petrashek)” and as a general rule, one loses all privacy expectations in what is shared with the world. When an individual makes a post to an online networking site or blog, they relinquish all rights to having that information remain private. Thus, anything they write can be used against them in any subsequent criminal or civil proceeding. Though this tension between constitutional doctrine and social practice has yet to play a major part in the courts, it may soon do so. With social networking users at an all-time high, the crimes associated with it are also increasing exponentially as more people are at risk of being victimized. Because the internet largely does not protect an individual’s right to privacy, law enforcement has largely unrestricted access to necessary information turning social networking into a crime fighting tool. In January 2012, a group of Arizona men, including a Peoria, Arizona police sergeant, triggered a federal investigation when they appeared in a photo posted on Facebook. In that photo the men were posing with weapons and what appeared to be an image of President Barack Obama that was riddled with bullet holes.  The Sheriff’s office put the Sergeant on desk duty pending an internal investigation and the United States Secret service launched a federal investigation into a potential threat against the President of the United States (Donna Leinwand). That photo was obtained from the social networking site without a warrant and can be used against the subjects in a subsequent criminal proceeding. All across the United States law enforcement officials are looking at these social networking sites and using them to solve crimes and prevent other crimes from occurring.

According to a news article on CBS in Chicago in January 2012, six individuals were charged by police in connection with a brutal beating that was posted to website ‘YouTube.com’. In California, an individual is wanted for reckless driving and speeding after he posted a video of his 118 mph ride on a California freeway to ‘Youtube.com’.  These are all cases involving police being able to use social media to hold those responsible of crimes accountable for their actions. Social media is a powerful tool for police and they will continue to use it as such. The police should not have their ability to use social networking sites infringed and should continue to be allowed to use it as an effective crime fighting tool as long as perpetrators are stupid enough to make their crimes public.

The future of online privacy acts and fourth amendment protection as it pertains to social media is unclear at this point. Without a doubt Congress and the higher courts within the United States will be facing these areas of concern. The enactment of federal regulation can be an extremely long and grueling process and by the time it occurs, social networking could have already evolved. Though some of the issues are currently being discussed, such as the case of the Facebook “like” button, they are limited in the nature to which they are being discussed. The right to free speech in social media is being discussed as it pertains to the simple clicking of a picture of a thumb but the issue is much larger than that. This is a prime example of the limited nature of social media issues and how they are being addressed. Most of the proposals and issues have nothing to do with Facebook postings or other misuse of digital data, yet that is where most of the concern is and what is important to us an a society. Many intellectuals agree that there seems to be momentum within government institutions and criminal justice agencies and many new policies may be rolled out in the near future. Until then, we as a society are going to take to those very social networking sites and warn each other about the ramifications of this new online environment (Pike).

Works Cited

Donna Leinwand, Leger, and TODAY USA. "Internet creates wider venue for political incivility, threats." USA Today n.d.: Academic Search Premier. Web. 4 Oct. 2012.

Gross, Doug. "Virginia deputy fights his firing over a Facebook 'like'." CNN [Richmond, Virginia] 01 Aug 2012. Web. 5 Oct. 2012. <http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/10/tech/social-media/deputy-fired-facebook-like/index.html>.

Hudson Jr., David L. "Like' Is Unliked." ABA Journal 98.9 (2012): 23-24. Academic Search Premier. Web. 5 Oct. 2012.

Petrashek, Nathan. "The Fourth Amendment and the Brave New World of Online Social Networking." Marquette Law Review. 93.4 (2010): 1-36. Print. <http://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5029&context=mulr>.

PIKE, GEORGE H. "LEGAL ISSUES. Online Privacy Protection Gaining Momentum." Information Today 28.5 (2011): 28. Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 Oct. 2012.

Song, Susannah, perf. "7 Teens Charged In Brutal Attack Captured On YouTube." CBS Chicago. CBS Local MEdia: 2, Chicago, 18 JAN 2012. Television. <http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/01/18/7-teens-charged-in-brutal-attack-captured-on-youtube/>.

Blog 1 - The effects of social media on the criminal justice system

From a simple click of the computer mouse to the swift swipe of your finger on a touch-screen, the human race is more socially connected today than we have ever been. Information is traveling faster than ever before reaching audiences on a world scale. From reconnecting with old friends to organizing mass social demonstrations, social media has an infinite number of uses. It is playing a huge role in shaping cultures and countries across the world and has even aided in the overthrowing of entire governments. From small town communities to the largest nations on earth, social media has become entrenched into human society. Social media is largely limitless, uncontrolled, and has drastic effects on our criminal justice system.

Credit: Instagram

One example of social media is Facebook. Facebook is the world’s largest social networking site with over 914 million accounts and is projected to reach over 1 billion users in the near future. In the United States alone, there are over 163 million accounts on Facebook. If every account was held by a different person, it would consist of over 50% of the entire U.S. population.   Facebook is present in almost every country across the world (Facebook Statistics).  This type of connectivity and information spreading is unprecedented. Along with Facebook, there are other social media sites including Twitter and Instagram. From October 2010 to July 2012, the photo-sharing phenomenon Instagram went from over 100,000 users to over 80 million users “sharing” just under 4 billion photos (Protalinski). With the use of these sites; governments, corporations, special interest groups, small businesses, and regular people are able to send information to a global audience in fractions of a second. All parties involved in these transactions can receive benefits from this information exchange, but these same groups also contribute to the problems associated with it.

“Social networks like Facebook and Twitter are reshaping the way people communicate and take collective action” and were instrumental in the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings and London riots. It has become apparent that the “instantaneous nature” of these platforms actually had an effect on the time it took for those actual events to occur. It can be argued that the purpose of social media was never meant or designed for the rapid spreading of news so quickly, but instead, has evolved into what it is today. The problems associated with social media are vast, but it is important to focus our attention on the concept of social media and criminal justice. (“Why Rumors Spread So Quickly In Social Networks”) Among the most adversely affected by social media are government agencies, specifically, law enforcement agencies and criminal justice institutions.

One major problem is the need for people to be instantaneously informed. We thirst for information and we want it as fast as possible. Sometimes there is not enough time for information to be analyzed and be backed by concrete evidence before it spreads across social media avenues. The information sent and received may not be accurate. In the United States, there are debates about whether or not information on the internet, or in the social media sphere, is protected under our constitutional rights. Social media has brought about a vast new market for criminals to capitalize on and has created an insurmountable number of people to be victimized. Social media has put Law Enforcement agencies across the country under public scrutiny for allegations of alleged misconduct and has brought cash-strapped cities to their knees with million-dollar law-suits. Social media has brought together millions of citizens to stand together on specific issues and have even influenced law enforcement investigations, as was the case with the Trayvon Martin shooting.  The Criminal Justice system is largely unprepared and ill-equipped to handle this new concept of social media and the resulting phenomenons.

      

             Some Criminal Justice agencies at the local, state, and Federal level have attempted to adapt

to this new social trend. Some have attempted to use social media as a means to disperse information

while others have even used social media as an investigative tool.  It is absolutely imperative that 

changes occur at all levels of the criminal justice system to account for this new global phenomenon.

The failure of government to “catch up”, become knowledgeable, and adapt to the changes brought

on by social media will have dire consequences on government and on society.

Works Cited

"Facebook Statistics." socialbakers: The Recipe for Social Marketing Success. socialbakers, 09/14/2012. Web. 14 Sep 2012. <http://www.socialbakers.com/facebook-statistics/>.

Protalinski, Emil. "Instagram passes 80 million users." CNET News. CBS Interactive, 26 July 2012. Web. 14 Sep 2012. <http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57480931-93/instagram-passes-80-million-users/>.

"Why Rumors Spread So Quickly In Social Networks." Communications Of The ACM 55.6 (2012): 70-75. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Sept. 2012.