Faceboook User Fights Animal Cruelty, Poster May Face Charges.

Posted by Anthony LaFauce on January 7th, 2008 11:31 AM

I recently posted a story out of Canada discussing the legal issues of posting the names of youths who have been accused with a crime in Canada. As I am an American my education in the realm of Communication Law has only extends to the laws of the United States where I helm my professional career. That being said I am forever interested in legal cases that pertain to Comm. Law anywhere in the world.

Jodie Sinnema, out of the CanWest News Service, just posted an article in the Canadian daily Times Colonist about three teens being charged with a crime after malicious Facebook profiles were created about them detailing acts of cruelty against cats. According to the article police were able to investigate and then charge these teens with animal cruelty based on information obtained from the Facebook profile.

Sadly the website that posted the names of the teens also posted hate words and promised acts of violence against the accused teens. This brings a legal dilemma for the police: if the Facebook profiles are used as evidence in court, the accused can counter sue the original posters. Also, since the original Facebook postings promised violence and bodily harm, the original poster can be charged with a crime as well.

While this is not the first case of Facebook being used to help fight crime, it does bring to light the duality of committing a crime to help fight crime. As law enforcement officials begin to use new media more and more to help fight crime, laws will be constantly challenged and reevaluated.

Should Facebook begin monitoring profiles for illegal activity on any level? Should the authorities actively pursue ALL illegal actives found on Facebook? Is committing a crime to stop a crime morally permissible?

Let me know how you feel about any of these questions, I would love to hear your opinion on this subject.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 7th, 2008 at 11:31 am and is filed under AllFacebook, New Media, Privacy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.