Facebook: NYC prosecutors got data on 381 users
Source: AP-Excite
By JENNIFER PELTZ
NEW YORK (AP) Prosecutors building a sweeping disabilities-benefit fraud case got a trove of data from the Facebook accounts of more than 380 people, the social media giant said this week as it disclosed a nearly yearlong legal fight over the largest set of search warrants it has ever received.
Facebook ultimately turned over the information but is appealing the court order that required it to do so, saying prosecutors intruded on users' privacy. The Manhattan district attorney's office and a judge have said the search warrants were justified.
The dispute adds to a roster of clashes between authorities and Internet companies over law enforcement efforts to scrutinize people's online lives for potential evidence.
"It's part of a trend toward more aggressive challenges by Internet providers on behalf of their customers," said Orin Kerr, a George Washington University law professor who specializes in issues surrounding computers and crime.
FULL story at link.
Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140628/us-facebook-search-warrants-58c2e34e13.html
Hestia
(3,818 posts)My DH & I aren't even link, and do not have the same town listed. I haven't uploaded pics in years since FB owns them once you upload them. Forget that noise.
Helen Borg
(3,963 posts)I can imagine some idiots posting their bodynbuilding context pictures while claiming disability...
customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)My maxim is, don't put anything on the Internet that you wouldn't put on a billboard over your house.
Facebook and Twitter just seem to be new ways for stupid people to display their ignorance.
Hestia
(3,818 posts)asked him if he took Polaroids or Instamatic pics of his food before camera phones - too funny!
My DH and I are not linked and live in two different cities according to FB. I don't post pics of my house or children or family members, or vacations especially since FB owns the photos after you post them. Who wants to hand over those rights? Besides, my life simply isn't that interesting
Shrike47
(6,913 posts)When I was an attorney for the state, we routinely looked at Facebook entries about our cases. Why not? And people frequently disclose information they probably don't want those who are adverse to them to know.
For heaven's sake, keep it to yourself. You don't need to post your whole life.
thesquanderer
(11,990 posts)At least according to the linked article.
customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)There's no such thing as a private message on the Internet. Whisper something to someone in a city park if you want no eavesdropping. And cover your mouth to thwart the lip readers.
cynzke
(1,254 posts)if it catches fraud.
groundloop
(11,521 posts)Plus, IMO, putting something on facebook is no different than bragging about it in a bar (and in that case investigators don't need a warrant to ask your buddies what you said). It's stupid as hell to post something on social media and have any expectation at all of it not being seen by the world.
enlightenment
(8,830 posts)That's not exactly like bragging about it in a bar.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)George II
(67,782 posts)...to prosecute him.
frazzled
(18,402 posts)Where people go to hide ill-gotten gains or avoid taxes ... and we can't prosecute the criminals because those banks won't give out any information?
Didn't you guys watch Wolf of Wall Street?
Getting valid search warrants to investigate a crime when probable cause is present is fair game. Just because something is "on the Internet" doesn't mean that it is immune from searches. Before, police or the FBI could get a warrant to search your personal papers, phone records, bank accounts, etc. Now we have to add the Internet to the tools investigators have to prosecute criminal activity. New technology is not immune. The internet is not an offshore tax shelter for your shenanigans.
Trillo
(9,154 posts)Why should the wealthiest be able to hide information from investigators, if nobody else can? And if nobody else can hide information, why should the wealthiest be so allowed via their special offshore accounts?
frazzled
(18,402 posts)We're talking about an American company, an investigation of American citizens, by American prosecutors.
Why would you want everyone to imitate something we think is bad? Like your Mom said, if all the other kids jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?
Response to frazzled (Reply #14)
Trillo This message was self-deleted by its author.
PosterChild
(1,307 posts)... financial transfers into and out of the united states greater than $10K must be reported upfront to Customs:
There is no limit on the amount of money that can be taken out of or brought into the United States. However, if a person or persons traveling together and filing a joint declaration (CBP Form 6059-B) have $10,000 or more in currency or negotiable monetary instruments, they must fill out a "Report of International Transportation of Currency and Monetary Instruments" FinCEN 105 (former CF 4790).
Trillo
(9,154 posts)see this, 22,000-238 folks allegedly still have secret names:
...
Levin said he wants the bank to do more than just pay fines and make promises to do better. "Turn over the names of the people whom you aided and abetted in tax evasion," Levin said. He said the Swiss bank has given U.S. authorities the names of only 238 out of the 22,000 secret account holders.
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/02/26/credit_suisse_swiss_bank_accounts_not_so_secret_anymore
PosterChild
(1,307 posts)... using a phony name to avoid reporting and to hide overseas financial transactions is against the law. Yes, people do break the law.
Trillo
(9,154 posts)So, prosecutors got warrants. Whooptie dooh dah, wheee!!!!
Where are the guilty verdicts? If you don't have those, then why are folks characterized as up to something no good just because they have a Facebook account, and a warrant was issued to investigate whether anything "no good" may have happened?
Mentally browbeating folks who are or may be innocent as a routine matter is one of the ways we as a people are psychologically prepped and dominated by corporations to always feel bad about ourselves, and it certainly stands in the way of pursuing happiness. Or was that just another one of those lies told to us?
George II
(67,782 posts)Your last paragraph? Makes no sense at all.
Trillo
(9,154 posts)"The internet is not an offshore tax shelter for your shenanigans."
PosterChild
(1,307 posts)DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)K&R
[center][/center]
''We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.'' ~Aristotle
Ash_F
(5,861 posts)PosterChild
(1,307 posts)... it costs taxpayers billions.
Ash_F
(5,861 posts)and it is nothing compared to wage theft from employers
Or kickbacks to politicians for votes.
Or the money that just goes 'missing' in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.
PS - In all these cases, the taxpayers are robbed too.