Facebook appeals against handing over users’ data

Facebook is appealing the ruling of a New York judge that ordered the social networking site to hand over data from 381 fraud suspects. The data ranged from liked pages to private messages to other users.

The New York Times reported this on Thursday evening. During the case that the Manhattan district had brought against the users, the OM requested the data of the suspects’ Facebook accounts from the social networking site. The users would have submitted false claims to insurance companies, because they would no longer be physically able to work. However, on the basis of data that can be found on their Facebook profiles, it would be clear that this was not the case. A total of 134 charges have been filed against the users, according to The Wall Street Journal, and insurance companies have suffered approximately $400 million in damages from the fraud. Half of the suspects have now pleaded guilty.

However, Facebook did not want to hand over the personal data, because it believes the requests violate the US Fourth Amendment. That law prohibits the state from conducting unreasonable searches or seizing personal property without reason.

However, the judge in New York has ruled that Facebook is only a platform where data is reposted online and is not a target for a criminal investigation. According to the judge, Facebook is only a storage space for the data of its users. Therefore, the law would not apply to Facebook in the case now pending against 381 of its users. The judge also ruled that the affected users should not be disclosed, in order to prevent them from deleting their information on Facebook once they realize that they are under investigation. According to The New York Times, the New York judge’s ruling undermines the Fourth Amendment.

Facebook would be surprised at the amount of injunctions the court presented to the site. It would also be outraged that the judge ruled that the court orders cannot be challenged in this particular case. A Facebook spokesperson told The New York Times that if it doesn’t get a chance to appeal, there’s a chance that no one will be able to stop a potential invasion of their privacy indefinitely.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that searching and recovering cell phones requires a court order. This is because the information that a user places on a mobile phone is so privacy-sensitive that it is comparable to searching someone’s home.

Update 11.58: Made it clear that Facebook will appeal against the earlier ruling