Posted on Monday, April 18th, 2011 at 10:33 am
With more and more people becoming involved in posting content, comments, photos, pictures, and personal profiles on the internet, courts are using this online activity as evidence. In criminal courts, social media activity on websites like Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter, as well as other online activity on dating sites or video/photography uploading sites like Youtube, can either help in your defense, or at times, be incriminating.
Experts warn individuals to be aware of what they are posting online. For example, posting a photograph taken from a phone with GPS on a website like Facebook allows investigators the ability to see exact coordinates of where the pictures were taken and at what time.
A law professor at Arizona State University said of this new type of evidence, “It opens a new avenue because it’s a way in which people are voluntarily posting information which could incriminate them not realizing that law enforcement has access to it.”
If you or someone you know has been charged with a crime in Champaign, contact the Champaign criminal defense lawyers of Bruno Law Offices at 217-328-6000 to set up an appointment to speak with an experienced defense attorney.