Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, SnapChat, MySpace, Google+) could be used as an incredible force to do good works. Think about it; everyone has the ability to stand on their own soapbox and influence thousands – sometimes millions of people.  Ideas are shared.  Information is gained. Messages are communicated.  One sided opinions expressed.   The use of SM in just the US alone has increased 356%  since 2006 and 52% of Americans have at lease one SM profile, while more than a billion people use FB each month Twitter has 140 million active users posting 340 million tweets a DAY.  It is HUGE.

People are braver when they are behind a keyboard. We stand shocked and offended when tweets and posts are sent off distastefully. We are horrified when arrests are made after someone threatens to blow up airports. We stand together saddened when a child is “cyber-bullied” to suicide. Social media misuse is running rampant and legal action is being demanded.  Cyberspace can not be a lawless space where people can harass, bully, threat and demean other users. The information available is simply staggering.

The immeasurable and continually changing ways to share information on the world wide web with social media has resulted in a goldmine of potential evidence: profiles, lists of friends, group memberships, messages, chat logs, tweets, photos, videos, tags, GPS locations, check-ins, login timetables and more.  If Facebook is subpoenaed by the government they must provide the user’s profile, wall posts, photos the user uploaded, photos user was tagged in, the list of the user’s friends and all of THEIR facebook IDs and login and IP data.  Sometimes a search warrant isn’t even needed to find information needed.  There’s a myriad of evidence publicly available. But, to dig a little deeper a warrant would be needed to get passed the privacy settings.

If you are one who has been caught engaging in cyber-bullying you may face serious consequences. Suspension, even expelled from school. An arrest could lead to a criminal conviction and if it is serious enough, jail time. If you are accused, it needs to be taken seriously and you will need a good criminal defense attorney in Ohio or Kentucky. There are constitutional protections against incriminating yourself. An Ohio criminal defense attorney will take all steps to make sure these rights are protected before you speak to law enforcement.  Often people don’t think they need an attorney because they believe they “look innocent” simply because they are acting liket hey have nothing to hide.  Nothing is that simple.  You need proper legal protection and without it, a comment made and believed to be innocent, may turn out to be used against you.

The Bottom Line: The evidence that social media is supplying in investigations is undeniably critical in criminal proceedings.  Users are creating scores of data everyday and social media companies roll out new ways that ultimately help users get deeper into making a “digital footprint”.  Once you put something on the internet – it is there forever. Life.  Death.  Income Tax. Digital Footprint.  These are all for sure. It could be determined that  a stray online comment was merely a misunderstood joke.  Punishing non-dangerous people for jokes can’t be justified in the name of public safety.  There is, indeed, a lot of overreactions in online cruelty, and that needs to be determined for you.   Just as social media enables real situations of bullying and intimidation, it also allows messages, photos and posts to be misunderstood.   Call me; let me help you.        513-260-2099