Facebook: A 'friend' of the plaintiffs

Society's increasingly narcissistic tendencies are paying off for inquiring minds. Yeah, you have to wade through mountains of the boring, base, and banal to find the golden nuggets, but they are there: admissions.Admissions to anything from cheating to felonious crimes; all made public diary-style, all without thought. It's reminiscent of the Darwin Awards. Apparently we really are that stupid. The internet isn't private; it's a megaphone.

I first noticed this side of the online social scene through a friend whose ex refuses access to their child. She likes to hide their whereabouts. She hides it from everyone except her 138 friends on Facebook. There she blabbed about how excited she was to be back in Coeur d'Alene. Naturally she was shocked when he knocked on the door.Last week a lawyer friend in Texas posted "I love Facebook; it won my trial!" A witness impeached himself in a domestic lawsuit by posting the opposite of what he'd claimed that day in court. Genius. He's not alone; attorneys and litigants in other suits have used Facebook to gather evidence, such as NBC reported in a products liability suit against a New York manufacturer.

Governments are also getting wise to the benefits of the social Web. The Department of Homeland Security has used Facebook to expose marriage fraud in immigration cases and track activities of other suspects. This was revealed to AP news sources through a Freedom of Information Act request by Electronic Frontier Foundation, an advocacy group.On Monday, Information Week reported that FBI agents sometimes use fake identities to "friend" suspects or persons of interest in investigations. A federal radio station, WTOP, reported that the Office of Fraud Detection and National Security now uses Facebook to expose fraud. It's simple, it's cheap, and thanks to self-obsession, effective.

Facebook users, take note: It's not a private diary; it's evidence.

Sholeh Patrick is an attorney and a columnist for the Hagadone News Network. Contact her at sholehjo@hotmail.com