It's been said over and over, and I've even said it here, more time than I care to count - Be careful what you share on social networking sites. It's just that simple. Don't tweet or post something on Facebook that you don't want everyone in the world to see. It might not sound fair, and you feel like you have some degree of privacy because you are at home or work on a computer and no one is around, but you really, really don't.
It's already known that if you use Twitter, all of your tweets will become part of the National Archive, and people have been arrested and prosecuted based on the information they provided to the world on their Facebook page. Now, however, a judge has ruled that police officers and prosecutors don't have to get a warrent to subpoena your tweets, even if you delete them. Because they are public information owned by a third party, they aren't entitled to the same privacy protections.
The ruling came about as part of a trial of an Occupy Wall Street protester who was trying to prevent the court from being able to subpoena his Twitter account. The judge said that there isn't any precedent in New York that would protect third-party online social networking user information or postings.
What's important here is that this case sets a dangerous precedent about technology and privacy. So much of what we share with our friends and families through social networking is sensitive information like GPS location. With this, even a tweet about how much you don't like someone could be used against you in a court of law.
Everything you tweet or post on Facebook is available for anyone to see, so be careful what information you share. A slip of the fingers can cost you a job or even have you arrested.
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