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State of Virginia Backs Off Demand for Facebook User Data
The State of Virginia has recently backed down from its attempts to force Facebook to divulge the complete contents of a user’s account to settle a dispute over workers’ compensation, avoiding a potentially high-profile privacy battle in federal court.
Ms. Hensley was an employee of Colgan Air, a Virginia-based company operating under the names United Express, U.S. Airways Express, and Continental Connection. Ms. Hensley suffered a back injury while working for Colgan Air and received disability benefits as a result. However, after about 18 months, Colgan Air objected to continued payments, claiming that any back problems suffered by Ms. Hensley were not severe.
To support its claims, Colgan Air subpoenaed Facebook, demanding that Facebook provide all documentation relating to Ms. Hensley’s Facebook account. When Facebook refused, stating the request was overly broad, Virginia’s Workers Compensation Commissioner cited Facebook for contempt and ordered a $200-a-day fine on Facebook until it complied with the subpoena. The Commissioner later reversed his previous ruling and fine when Facebook made clear that it would further litigate this issue by seeking, among other things, an injunction from the federal courts.
Even though Colgan Air was unsuccessful in obtaining the requested information through the subpoena, it received the desired information after all, as Ms. Hensley, claiming she has nothing to hide, signed a release, authorizing the disclosure of the contents of her Facebook account to Colgan Air.
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http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10352587-38.html