Court: social networking comments private, in part.

• Position: SOCIAL MEDIA - Christian Audigier Inc Vs Buckley Crispin H - Brief article

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A U.S. district court has ruled that while private messages sent via social networking sites are protected under the Stored Communications Act (SCA), more public wall and comment posts may not be given the same protection.

In Crispin v. Christian Audigier Inc., defendants in a copyright infringement case subpoenaed Facebook and MySpace seeking disclosure of wall postings and private messages from plaintiff Crispin's accounts. Crispin filed a motion to stop the subpoenas, arguing that the SCA protected his accounts. The act generally prevents an organization that provides an electronic communication service (ECS) or a remote computing service (RCS) to the public from revealing the contents of certain communications that are carried, maintained, or stored on that service.

The court determined the social networking sites were either an ECS or RCS and, therefore, were covered by the SCA. The court referenced a provision in the federal Wiretap Act stating that "lilt shall not be unlawful under [the SCA] for any person...