If You Tweet It, They (the Police) Will Come!

• Author: Jonathan Shime and Megan Schwartzentruber
• Pages: 31-43

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IfYouTweetIt

TheythePoliceWillCome

JonathanShimeandMeganSchwarentruber*

AINTRODUCTION

WeliveinaworldinundatedwithtechnologyandsocialmediaAtvir-

tuallyeverymomentofourdayespeciallyourworkdayweareusing

sometechnologicaldevicewhetheritbeaBlackBerryoraniPhonea

cellphoneoracomputerThroughthesedeviceswesendemailsand

text messages and can access the Internet Li nkedIn Facebook and

othersocialnetworkingsitesAsaresultthesedevicesnowholdsome

ofourmostprivatethoughtscommunicationsandideas

Rarelydoweconsidertheimplicationsoftheuseofthesedevices

specicallythepossibilitythattheinformationdatacontainedtherein

may be displayedpublicly or even worse in a courtroom sei ngIn

thecriminallawcontexthowevertheinformationdatastoredinthese

technologicaldevicesisnowregularlyseizedbythepolicetenderedby

prosecutors and admied in court by judges One must now assume

thatifonedoesInternetsearchessendstextmessagesoremailsorposts

messagesonlinethosematerialswillbetenderedasevidenceincourt

shouldapersonbecomeinvolvedinacriminalprosecution

Thefactthattheevidenceisobtainedwithinanemployeremployee

contextdoesnotchangethenatureoftheanalysistobeappliedorthe

likelylegaloutcomeOneshouldassumethattheuseoftechnologyand

socialmediaintheworkplaceisalsonotoutsidethereachofthecrim-

inallaw

 OfCooperSandlerKaufmanShimeLLPJonathanShimeapartnerintherm

hasrepresentedclientsonawidevarietyofcriminalchargesMeganSchwaren-

truberistechsavvyandwrotethisentirepaperusingonlyheriPhone