Court Rules No Reasonable Expectation of Privacy in Facebook Postings

A Pennnsylvania judge recently found that a person’s Facebook postings had “no expectation of privacy” and, therefore could be compelled to be produced at trial. 

In Largent v. Reed, the court found that when a Facebook posting was in contradiction to testimony then the owner of the Facebook account could be ordered to turn over their user name and password to the opposing party.  In this case, the Facebook postings and photos disputed claims of physical harm following a motor vehicle accident.

No matter how you configure your privacy settings, the fact that you disclose postings and pictures to others erodes any privacy claim, leading the court to state, ”". . . 0nly the uninitiated or foolish could believe that Facebook is an online lockbox of secrets.”

While Facebook is not an online lockbox of secrets, it is an online personal collection of material intended for a specific audience.  While this Court is not the first Pennsylvanian or other state court to find Facebook postings are not privileged, the fact that the court had to determine the matter at all shows their is a belief that privacy settings in Facebook have some applicability to what is discoverable in litigation. 

They don’t, and I suspect Largent v. Reed won’t be the only instance where a person’s Facebook postings come back to haunt them.

For a copy of the Largent v. Reed opinion:  ttp://www.theemployerhandbook.com/Largent.pdfhttp://www.theemployerhandbook.com/Largent.pdf