Facebook Criminology

Think, Before You Post

 By Dong Xue

I have three questions for you before you start:

1. Do you know how many laws are there in the United States?
2. Do you know how many people are watching your Facebook posts?
3. Do you know that your Facebook post can be used against you in legal circumstances; basically, by posting on Facebook, you voluntarily waived your Miranda rights?

If you have answered “No” on one of the questions, then I strongly suggest you to cut your Facebook time and the numbers of post in half or even more, consult a lawyer specialized in internet social media and freedom of speech area, and try your best to avoid talking about current issues for your future Facebook activities. If you really can’t hold it but to post something on Facebook, ancient Greek cultures and extraterrestrial life might be some good topics. Please remember, for your own benefit, be very careful about what you say on Facebook because lots of people, especially teenagers, got in trouble by exercising their speech right. The fact is, you have no idea how weird some laws are and you will never know what you are saying on Facebook might serve as the evidence against you.

If you answered “No” to all the above questions, I suggest you to immediately close your Facebook account, go back to law school for at least another four years, hire a legal team to thoroughly go through all you Facebook posts. Make sure that there were no post that could land you in prison for years, based on the legal experts’ understandings.

Facebook is not short of lovers. Mr. Zuckerberg loves Facebook because it makes him the youngest billionaire in the world. Wall Street investors love Facebook because it earns them tons of money in one day. Government loves Facebook because it translate into billions of dollars of tax revenues. Employers love Facebook because they can easily spy on employees without any formal legal procedures. If you are not in one of these categories and you still love Facebook, my advice to you: spend some time on my first three questions before you get yourself in deep trouble.

I have a friend who sells proprietary brand cosmetic products. She posts a lot of things everyday telling people, including me, how shining her hairs are, how smooth her skins are and how much younger she looks than her actual age. She really is a Facebook lover. Another friend of mine all the sudden gets very religious recently. She posts a lot of “Oh, God. How much I love you,” or “Praise God. You are so great.” Guess what? She works for a church. Oh, by the way, that church is in financial trouble and talking about laying off its staff just recently.

Most people have the illusion, like I did before, that their Facebook posts can only be viewed within the friends circles. People talk differently at friends gatherings than in public occasions. I talk very differently within my family than at business meetings. Facebook gives people a deceptive virtual reality that you are talking in a private room with some of your best friends but you are actually broadcasting your “private” conversation to the world. If you think Facebook is a playground, it actually is. The only difference, from your neighborhood playground, is that millions of people are surrounding the ground and silently watching you while you are playing, waiting for you to do something stupid. If you do, unfortunately, then your case becomes someone’s work load.

Only last week, someone wrote a post on Facebook saying that he probably know the person on the photos that police posted on TV for the Boston Marathon bombing suspects. Within minutes, all different agents showed up at his door. This is definitely a good way to use Facebook. But think of something a little different. As a private citizen, you really don’t want a lot of people watching you that close to make you always feel like being watched.

One of the good thing for people who live in China is that their Facebook access is completely blocked. I have some Chinese friends who were complaining about this when we talked about the internet access issues. I told them, “You don’t know how lucky you are. By being cut off from Facebook, you are eliminating the risk of been prosecuted based on the posts you’ve made.” There are always some Facebook enthusiasts in China who jump over the fire wall and post something on Facebook and get themselves in trouble. Well, you make the choices and you take the consequences.

To make sure that my family don’t get into any legal troubles because of Facebook, I told all my kids, before you write your post, imagine that you are standing on the stage of a presidential campaign convention and there are tens of thousands people around you listening; there also is a wall of cameras aiming at you. If you still want to send that post, go ahead and do it.