We are entering the age of the "Internet Law and Order."A former CBS anchor in Philadelphia was found guilty recently of reading his co-anchor's e-mail in an effort to derail her rising career. He was sentenced to six months house arrest, ordered to perform 150 hours of community service and fined $5000.00. He was also fired from his job by the station.
On the west coast, 49 year-old Lori Drew was convicted in Los Angeles of three misdemeanors for violating the American Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. In 2006 she organized a MySpace hoax that targeted a 13 year old girl who committed suicide.
In England, a young woman said her three year marriage came to and end when she caught her husband's electronic persona having e-sex with another Second Life virtual woman. Her lawyer said that this as the second such Second Life divorce case he had handled.
At one time, being on-line meant anonymity and freedom -- the ability to say anything you wanted. Not any more. Now, it seems, if your online activities are questionable, you just might risk losing your spouse, your job and even your freedom as more and more folks are being sued and dragged into court over their computer activities.
Is it surprising that wWe now find lawyers trolling Twitter looking for targets and clients?
Electronic discovery in the legal world is creating new specialists who drill down into hard drives and find material you thought you had deleted forever.
Remember, when you log on, everything you create can come back to haunt you, Be very careful about what you say.
Photo by Nolene Dowdall. Creative Commons License Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic
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