From Facebook to Mug Shot: How the Dearth of Social Networking Privacy Rights Revolutionized Online Government Surveillance

Abstract

Each month, Facebook's half billion active users disseminate over 30 billion pieces of content.In this complex digital ecosystem, they live a parallel life that, for many, involves more frequent, fulfilling, and compelling communication than any other offline or online forum.But even though Facebook users have privacy options to control who sees what content, this Article concludes that every single one of Facebook's 133 million active users in the United States lack a reasonable expectation of privacy from government surveillance of virtually all of their online activity.Based on Facebook's own interpretations of federal privacy laws, a warrant is only necessary to compel disclosure of inbox and outbox messages less than 181 days old.Everything else can be obtained with subpoenas that do not even require reasonable suspicion.Accordingly, over the last six years, government agents have -worked the beat‖ by mining the