Who cares about your Facebook status updates?!?!
I don’t know about you guys but I have some friends on my Facebook account that will constantly tell you what they are doing, eating, watching on TV, or listening to on their IPods…like who cares that much!?! Maybe they have nobody else to talk to and tell them what they are doing or maybe they actually think that people care that they just ate an entire pizza by themselves and are now going to sit down and watch Transformers 2! I barely update my status each week let alone each action I make. I just don’t care that much about what my fellow Facebookers had for dinner that I won’t bother them with the fact that I just ate some chicken tortilla soup and am now catching up on the latest Modern Family episode.
However, in 19-year old Rodney Bradford’s case his status update wondering where his IHOP food was saved him from serving some hard time in jail. It was on the night of October 17 at 11:49 am that he updated his Facebook status asking where his pancakes where that was his lifesaver. The next day he was arrested as a suspect in a robbery at the Farragut House in Brooklyn, where he lives that the status became his alibi. He told his lawyer about the entry he had made in his Facebook account that took place during the suspected robbery that he was accused of committing. The district attorney then subpoenaed Facebook to verify that the status was written from a computer at Mr. Bradford’s address where he lives. When that was confirmed, the charges were dropped.
I am not so sure about this case because who is to say that Rodney Bradford is the one that wrote the status update. He could have easily thought ahead (although unlikely) and had someone post the status update for him. I mean whenever I use my boyfriends computer I never click on ‘log out’ I just close the browser and then later on he will get on his computer to log in to his Facebook account and it will automatically bring up my account. It will sometimes even be hours before he will go on after I have gone on and it still lets you into my account. He always jokes that he is going to put something dumb as my status update. When I saw Mr. Bradford’s story in the newspaper I thought I cannot believe that he is getting off the hook because of Facebook. Facebook really is taking over if it’s counting as an alibi in the court system. This is the first case that a Facebook status has been used to get someone out of trouble. It was a simple robbery charge but what is next? Could Facebook be used in a lot of future trials and cases where something more serious has happened? How can they prove that it was the actual owner of the account and not just some hacker…or a boyfriend that came along and put something because I never officially clicked ‘log-out’. It’s actually kind of scary to think of I think. When I signed up for my Facebook account in September back in 2005 I never thought that I was getting myself into something that would grow this popular.
Do you think that Facebook should be used as alibis in the courts? Is it reliable?
Well first off, I cannot see someone writing something like that on someone else's account, also I really don't think he thought it through and had someone write something there, as there has never been a case where a status could be used as an alibi. With the way they went about this, I do think that it could be used. They checked where it was coming from, etc. Now you say, how do you know that he was the one that did it, well people have used cell phone calls as alibies before due to the location of where they made the call, how do we know that they made that call? As long as they check it out, I can see it being used.
ReplyDeleteI love it. Finally a useful application to a lame status update. I, too, have friends that post every movement of their day. In fact, I'm surprised they don't post that they are headed off to the bathroom so don't worry if there are no status updates for a few minutes!
ReplyDeleteIt's true that someone else could have made the post from his computer. However, my experience with reading about criminal stories is that they are generally not that bright. The greater majority are the type that steal from the bank, then come back the next day to deposit the money into their account. I'm glad this guy was able to use his status as an alibi. Although, wouldn't other people have seen him at IHOP waiting for his pancake??
I agree with you--what if someone else had posted that update from his computer? Someone who he hired, just so he could use that as his alabi. Not saying that is what happened, but I could likely see it happening. The only thing I don't understand, though, is if he was at IHOP, how was the status update made from his home? Anyway... I also agree that it is so annoying when people update their statuses constantly. And the things they talk about are even worse..."Well, I just got my child to bed, now time to do laundry."
ReplyDeleteI don't care if you have to do laundry!
This is an interesting story. Criminals may try to use this in the future, but I'm sure investigators won't necessarily give Facebook the benefit of the doubt in most situations. It would have to be pretty blatant for law enforcement to let someone use Facebook as an alibi. I think we all have those friends who update their status about 12 times a day and it gets to the point where they are just not interesting anymore.
ReplyDeleteWhile it pains me to say this, I think we have to allow Facebook updates and Twitter tweets into the court systems. They are a part of the new technologies that are a part of our society’s lifestyle, and as such, that has to make them admissible evidence. If this guy would have called his friend during the robbery and talked to him about waiting for pancakes at IHOP, that would have been admissible in court. I hate saying that because I hate the fact that Facebook has such great importance in our lives, but sadly, I think it’s true.
ReplyDeleteWell, first off, if he was waiting for his food at IHop it had to be a mobile device. This means he could update that from his Iphone and then do whatever he was accused of doing. Half of the people I know have facebook/ twitter on their phones. I really doubt he did it from his computer. I would say they need to take another look. This is the 21st century.
ReplyDelete