Private Facebook posts are protected by the SCA unless voluntarily provided by friends with access

There may be some notion of privacy in your private Facebook wall but it is at the whim of your 498 friends — is it really?

A district court recently determined that Facebook wall posts are covered by the Stored Communications Act if the privacy settings are set to limit access to only friends. However, where a Facebook friend is authorized to access those posts and voluntarily provides them to others, the authorized user exception to the SCA applies and there is no violation. For a more complete discussion of these issues see Ehling v. Monmouth-Ocean Hosp. Service Corp., 2013 WL 4436539 (D.N.J. Aug. 20, 2013).

Takeaway: Social media is just like the real world except there is a permanent record of everything you say or do. Do not post something on social media that you would not want publicly broadcast in the real world.

Federal Court Protects Facebook Wall Posts (lawprofessors.typepad.com)
Court rules juror’s Facebook posts not protected (nylawblog.typepad.com)
Federal District Court Holds Work-Issued Computer Not A “Facility” Under Stored Communications Act (esignrecords.org)

Published by Shawn E. Tuma

Shawn Tuma is an attorney who is internationally recognized in cybersecurity, computer fraud and data privacy law, areas in which he has practiced for nearly two decades. He is a Partner at Spencer Fane, LLP where he regularly serves as outside cybersecurity and privacy counsel to a wide range of companies from small to midsized businesses to Fortune 100 enterprises. You can reach Shawn by telephone at 972.324.0317 or email him at stuma@spencerfane.com. View more posts