Facebook arrest

The Journal-news.net reports how a rather unaccomplished burglar ends up getting caught by his Facebook login, yep, you heard me right. Here is a recreation of the crime: 1) break window of victims house 2) ransack house, take valuables 3) Login into Facebook to check wall status (duh) 4) Quickly leave with valuables and avoid getting caught. So if we were playing a game like “which part of the burglary process does not fit” I think we would all choose number three above.

But, believe it or not Jonathan G. Parker, 19, of Fort Loudoun, Pa., did login into his Facebook account to check out, who knows what for, but I guess the obvious to check his “wall” status. Do you see how social media is changing things in law enforcement. I am not sure, but this has to be one of the first arrests due to Facebook login evidence. How does this hold up in a court of law? Are there any “expert Facebook witnesses” in the yellow pages or Google who can testify to “Facebook rules of login?” Point is the criminal justice system, particularly the prosecutors and defense attorney’s have a possible historical social media case law issue on the horizon. Can it be proven that the suspect actually logged into his account? If there is no physical evidence and this is the only piece of evidence what an interesting outcome may be forthcoming.

My wheels start working when I think of the opportunities that are out there for software to be developed that can be integrated with Facebook and other social media sites to protect it’s users. In this case maybe Facebook could force the users to provide some type of unique user information when logging into a new computer to authenticate that computer? This may be considered intrusive, but what if the victim had been murdered! Yea, I could “what if” this to death, but don’t think this can’t happen. What about the Craig’s List Killer? Bet nobody thought that someone would find prey on Craig’s List as a serial killer. Will social media sites move towards user authentication of some sort, I think so. But, it will probably be some brilliant developer and a marketing guru that provide the solution.

The suspect did not meet the victim on Facebook according to the article, but this still present a reason for the “authentication login” I propose above. The “authentication login” would also be very useful for anyone in any social media community who wants some protection from unknowns. Force the spammers, bots, freaks, fakes, and so on to become authenticated and force transparency. This may be considered a little drastic, but many females are harassed online due to their profiles alone. Social media protections for users will increase, but don’t lose any sleep waiting for them to do so.

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