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Texas D.A. Using Facebook to Screen Potential Jurors

by Terrence O'Brien on January 17, 2011 at 03:30 PM

Facebook GavelIt's no secret that potential employers will check an applicant's Facebook profile when considering them for a position. Now the District Attorney's office in Cameron County, Texas will be turning to the social networking site when screening potential jurors. D.A. Armando R. Villalobos told the Brownsville Herald that recent upgrades to the county's courtrooms will allow prosecutors to check juror's Facebook profiles using iPads and Wi-Fi.

During jury selection, candidate's profiles, wall posts and status updates will all be taken into consideration. Villalobos told the Herald that people tend to be more open and honest in their profiles than they might be in person. Of course, users have ultimate control over their privacy on Facebook and can control who can see their profile. Villalobos is hopeful that access to such information will become an accepted part of jury screening. He explained, "I think if a juror recognizes that it is information that is being used for that particular purpose on who the jurors are, how they feel on the issues and help streamline the process and make it quicker, I feel the juror would be fine with that knowing the information will be dumped at that point" Though Villalobos believes that most jurors would be comfortable with prosecutors collecting information from their Facebook profiles, we have our doubts. If someone has made their profile private, they probably expect it to remain that way.

Tags: facebook, jury, privacy, social networking, SocialNetworking, top

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