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Too Much Time on Facebook Might Cost Man His Disability Payments

by Tim Stevens on April 13, 2009 at 07:48 PM



In the Candian province of British Columbia, the disability case of Brendon Bishop has taken an interesting turn involving the Internet's most popular social networking site. In 2005, Bishop was involved in a car accident that, according to him, left him too fatigued to work. As a result, Bishop filed suit against British Columbia's provincial insurance agency, as well as the other driver, seeking "permanent disability payments," according to the Vancouver Sun (by way of UPI). Now, though, the validity of his case is being questioned due to his use of Facebook; defense attorneys have subpoenaed Bishop's Facebook usage stats in order to indicate how much time he spends on the site every day.

British Columbia Supreme Court Judge Thomas Melnick has decided that Bishop's computer activities will be admissible as evidence in court, and has claimed that privacy concerns are "not at issue," stating that such an investigation would not unnecessarily delve into private aspects of Bishop's life.

We're undecided about whether or not the defense's use of Facebook statistics invades Bishop's privacy. But, regardless, we tend to think that these statistics are irrelevant. The defense is claiming that time spent on Facebook could be time spent working. We'd understand the defense's argument if Bishop had taken up a more active hobby, like, say, heliskiing, but as it is, any Facebook user will tell you that hanging around on your profile page is a lot less taxing than a day at the office. [From: UPI]

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Tags: brendon bishop, BrendonBishop, disability, facebook, law, privacy, social networking, SocialNetworking

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