from Duboff Law Group LLC, Portland, Oregon
Do you post on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or other social networking sites? A recent ruling by the Superior Court of Fresno County cautions Internet users about the lack of privacy inherent in the use of such sites.
The case involved a woman named Cynthia Moreno, who published a blog entry called “Ode to Coalinga” on her MySpace page, opening with the line, “the older I get, the more I realize how much I despise Coalinga,” and going on to criticize the California city and its residents. When the principal of Coalinga High School found the Ode on MySpace, he forwarded it to the editor of the local newspaper and the newspaper published the Ode in its letters section.
The woman’s family still lived in Coalinga and claimed that as a result of the newspaper’s publication of the Ode, they received death threats and their home was shot at. They also claimed that the father’s business lost so much money it had to be closed. Morena and her family sued the principal and the school district as well as the newspaper and its publishers for invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The appellate court noted that Moreno had “made her article available to any person with a computer and thus opened it to the public eye” and went on to say that “[u]nder these circumstances, no reasonable person would have had an expectation of privacy regarding the published material.” The court pointed out that although Morena had used only her first name on her online journal, her identity was “readily ascertainable” from her MySpace page, which included a photograph of Moreno.
While most of us are aware that Internet postings are not private, this case serves as a reminder that unless your settings provide for limited access, you should be extremely careful when using social networking sites.
