[LINK] Facebook never forgets - stalking charge

[Jan Whitaker]

[Given the recent exposures of data access, this is an interesting 
outcome for a criminal proceeding using Facebook data tracking. The 
interpretation of 'stalking' seems odd in this case.]

Facebook pranks may end in court
Aliyah Stotyn
Published: June 16, 2013 - 8:10AM

A Frankston man who narrowly avoided jail after an online party prank 
backfired has warned of the risks of misusing social media.

What the man thought would be a harmless Facebook hoax led to police 
intervention and the prospect of jail time and a criminal record when 
he was charged with stalking two years later.

[snip]

Police tracked the ISP address used to set up the prank to Mr Davis' 
home computer, despite his not having returned to the Facebook page 
since creating the hoax.

His solicitor, Will Parker, said he was puzzled about why it took 
police two years to lay charges.

The delay meant that although the hoax was made when Mr Davis was a 
minor, the matter went to the Magistrates Court because he had since 
turned 19, putting him at risk of a harsher penalty.

Ultimately, he was accepted into the Criminal Justice Diversion 
Program, an option for first-time offenders, and avoided jail. He 
agreed to write a letter of apology to the teen and his family, to 
donate $400 to beyondblue, and to the bond.

''I thought it would just be a house party, cops would rock up and 
that would be the end of it,'' Mr Davis, now 20, said.

Mr Parker said a key issue in the case, and one he was prepared to 
fight had his client not been approved for diversion, was whether 
creating a false party qualified as stalking.

To qualify, there must be multiple acts of stalking that together 
place the targeted person in fear.

Even though Mr Davis simply created the prank Facebook event, the 
court viewed the involvement of numerous others as multiple acts on his behalf.

Postings on social media increasingly are being approved as 
admissible in court procedures, similar to evidence gathered from 
mobile phones.

Mr Parker's colleague, Tom Oldfield, said it was justifiable for 
police to tap social media for evidence because ''it is a modern way 
people are communicating, which - like any previous form of 
communication - needs to be subject to law''.

Mr Parker added: ''It is the immediacy of social media that poses 
this danger in my opinion, because it is just a click of a button.''

Aliyah Stotyn writes for The Citizen 
(<http://www.thecitizen.org.au>www.thecitizen.org.au).

This story was found at: 
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/facebook-pranks-may-end-in-court-20130615-2ob74.html 




Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com

Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or 
sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

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