New Concerns About Privacy on Facebook

Is there a family lawyer out there who hasn't had a client clobbered at trial by a printout from a Facebook page? Facebook postings can be the family lawyer's nightmare and the divorce or custody client's downfall.

A recent article in the New York Times explores new privacy concerns for Facebook users. It's not enough to "un-friend" someone so that he or she cannot access the client's Facebook.  New technology can allow friends, enemies and strangers to access information on a Facebook page.

According to Sengupta: “One of Facebook’s cleverest heists is the word ‘friend.’ It makes you think all your Facebook contacts are really your ‘friends.’ They may not be."

Of course, Facebook has privacy settings, but there are limits to the opt-out, and even blocking your ex-husband or ex-wife from seeing your Facebook will not protect your privacy. Unless you carefully manage your privacy settings, the photos and comments on your Facebook are fair game for police officers, partners and would-be employers. Moreover, Facebook has a built-in method that allows marketers to see websites you’ve visited so that ads leading to those websites will appear on your Facebook page. Do you pocket the quarter or 50 cent piece for this advertising? Of course not! But Facebook does.

Worse yet: Facebook now has search tool. Unless you carefully manage your privacy settings, “friends” and strangers on Facebook can find out your identity and many other private facts about you.Read here about Facebook "Graph Search."

I strongly recommend that you review Sengupta’s article and follow the four suggestions there for protecting your privacy. Then send the article to your Facebook friends so they can protect themselves.

The best advice: Family lawyers should tell their clients to lock down or take down their Facebook pages during contested custody and/or divorce proceedings. Clients should be told that it’s not OK to post photos of that wild party you had for your last birthday. Send your clients a link to this blog post in your next newsletter or email.

You may read Sengupta’s article Staying Private on the New Facebook here.

Related post:  Learn how to protect your children. Parents who post photos of their children on Facebook or other social media sites may put their children at risk by inadvertantly disclosing the location of where these darling children may be found. Read "What's a Geotag? To Protect Yourself and Your Family You Want to Know"