The social media, including Facebook and Twitter and others have been the source of some interesting legal problems recently. The publicity surrounding the Penn State sexual scandal and some other more local scandals involving teachers' sexually molesting students has seemed to have caused a rash of school administrators going onto the Facebook or Twitter accounts of their teachers and making sure there is nothing untoward on those social media accounts. Unfortunately, people have a bad habit of thinking that these accounts and the statements made thereon are somehow privileged or confidential - they are not. Accordingly, some teachers have lost their jobs because they have put very inappropriate things on Facebook or other social media sites and a school administrator has found it.
Somewhat similarly, litigants in a lawsuit and/or parents in a custody dispute and/or spouses getting divorced have had their Facebook or other social media accounts viewed and inappropriate things thereon used as ammunition in Court. By way of a recent example, a mother involved in a custody dispute with the father, during the Trial, was cross examined with a Facebook entry in which she and her partner had advertised that they were looking for swinging couples. Needless to say that was extremely damaging in the custody case.
