Civil and Criminal Cases and Twitter

Fleming, Marka B., and Jean T. Wells. "Ethical, Evidentiary, and Constitutional Concerns OF Utilizing Social Networking Web Sites in Civil and Criminal Cases: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly." Southern Law Journal 20.1 (2010): 23-52. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 5 Apr. 2011.

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In the article, “Ethical, Evidentiary, and Constitutional Concerns of Utilizing Social Networking Web Sites in Civil and Criminal Cases: the Good, the Bad, the Ugly,” authors Marka Fleming and Jean Wells talk about how social networking sites can be used in civil and criminal cases in the U.S. today, mostly in cases of suing or complaints. Fleming and Wells talk about their concerns with the idea of obtaining evidence on an individual from a social networking site. The authors think that this can be a bad idea because it is hard to say “whether the information can be authenticated and whether it constitutes inadmissible hearsay evidence.” They also state that the government could be violating the 4th amendment by obtaining the evidence without consent of the owner. The authors go on to say that “information contained on social networking sites can be authenticated and will not be barred as inadmissible hearsay evidence.” They also stated that they have not gotten answers to the ethical or constitutional challenges because the issue is still fairly new.

The authors’ point of view in this article is relevant today because of the fast growing rate of social networks in our society. Facebook remains to be the most widely used social network and the authors’ point of view helps readers see the downside to having all of their personal information on the internet for everyone to see. The point of view also shows readers a whole new aspect to Facebook can be because it has the opportunity to help police agencies track certain criminals down. The unbiased presentation of the authors point of view helps the readers realize these points without feeling pressured, or lacking information from one side. The point of view of the authors also is very useful to readers because it helps readers realize that they need to watch what is put on Facebook and other social networks because it can come back to haunt you. The article itself appeals to all Facebook users, and the authors’ point of view does as well. This is what makes this article as culturally significant as it is.