Legal and Ethics Issues With Social Media

I could only imagine what some of the older lawyers and judges said when social media started to become a popular avenue for expressing people's thoughts. It has created a large portion of work, not to mention the rules and standards are still being written. In an article titled, "How Social Media Is Pushing the Limits of Legal Ethics"they go through several examples of social media being used in legal situations. The article varies from jurors tweeting while doing their juror duty to jurors being chosen through Facebook and they even discuss if a Foursquare check-in will work as an alibi or as proof that you were at a disclosed place at a certain time.

An interesting fact that I stumbled upon while reading articles on this subject was the widening of the intergenerational gap. Here is a quote explaining this idea.


"The last 2 decades, in particular, have been characterized by exponential advances in technology, especially by personal access to ever more sophisticated electronic devices for information retrieval and communication. Concomitant changes in cultural mores relative to the use of such devices have widened the intergenerational gap, affecting all institutions, including law and education." (http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/736430)


 One thing is for certain, as social media changes the rules, laws, and ethics surrounding it will also change. It will be interesting to look back at cases that go all the way through the supreme court and see rulings that have dealt with social media and the laws of the First Amendment.