Court Allows Discovery of Deleted Facebook and MySpace Pages

Millions of people are currently using social networking websites such as Facebook.  Along with this usage, people post pictures, thoughts, and a slew of other personal information.  Such information, even once deleted, may now be available to opposing parties through discovery requests.  In a recent New York trial court a judged entered an order granting the defendant’s request for access to the plaintiff’s “current and historical Facebook and MySpace pages and accounts, including all deleted pages and related information.”

Most interesting about this ruling is that the judge ruled that a privacy setting on a social networking site does not mean that an individual has a guarenteed right to privacy for their information.  Because neither Facebook nor MySpace “guarantee complete privacy,” the court determined that the plaintiff had no “legitimate reasonable expectation of privacy” in the information she posted on those websites.