If you’re living or doing business in the great state of New York, then youu might want to watch how you post on Facebook. The cops just might be watching.
Per NY Post
Law enforcement officials can rifle through your private Facebook account without your knowledge — and there’s nothing the social media giant can do about it.
That was the ruling of New York’s highest court Tuesday when Facebook lost its years-long legal battle to block search warrants from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office seeking access to hundreds of user accounts.
The 5-1 majority on the Court of Appeals reaffirmed two lower-court rulings that said only users themselves, not Facebook, have the right to challenge warrants in criminal proceedings.
But in this case, the warrants are subject to a gag order, so Facebook was not allowed to warn users about the disclosure.
Facebook has not given up, saying that the case addresses unresolved questions about online privacy, hinting that the company might seek to have the case heard by the US Supreme Court.
“We are continuing to evaluate our options because we believe strongly in the issues underlying this case,” a Facebook spokesman said.
Experts predict that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg will have his lawyers ask for a hearing before the nation’s top court.
“These issues are important for social media platforms and their users, so I would expect that a certiorari petition by Facebook would be given serious consideration” by the Supreme Court, said legal expert Andrew B. Lustigman.
The lone dissenting judge in Tuesday’s decision, Rowan Wilson, chastised his colleagues for punting on the issue.
“Let us decide this thing on the merits,” he wrote.
“Our state constitution, unlike its federal counterpart, includes explicit protections against unreasonable searches and seizures of electronic communications,” he wrote in the dissent.
Facebook first challenged the sealed warrants in 2015. Earlier this year, the company argued before the Court of Appeals that the DA’s demand for information from hundreds of private accounts was unprecedented.