Judge orders Facebook to disclose user information

With online privacy seemingly never far from the news, a U.S. court has this week ordered social networking web site Facebook to deliver private information relating to one of its users.

Specifically, Judge Robyn Moberly of the Marion Superior Court in Indianapolis has issued Facebook with an order to provide important user information in a harassment case regarding the creation of a fake site profile in the name of Roncalli High School Dean Tim Puntarelli.

Although the fake profile was swiftly removed from Facebook’s pages after Roncalli High School officials reported it back in April, Mr. Puntarelli is now suing the popular online network on the grounds of harassment and identity theft.

Judge Moberly is subsequently ordering Facebook to reveal the true identity of the profile’s creator and to also recover any and all information contained on the profile prior to its deletion.

According to relevant details outlined by the lawsuit, the fake Facebook profile contained various “inappropriate” images and messages that could potentially damage Mr. Puntarelli’s reputation as a respectable dean of students.

In terms of disclosing the user information that will duly reveal the profile’s true creator, the judge is acting according to stipulations laid down by Facebook’s own privacy policy, which clearly states that private identifying information will not be released without a court order or valid subpoena.

Until Facebook bows to the court order, it remains unclear as to whether the fake profile was posted and populated by a student of Roncalli High School (a Catholic centre of learning) as a misguided prank or by someone outside of the school’s boundaries looking to taint the community’s perception of Mr. Puntarelli.

Facebook has not yet issued official comment regarding the Puntarelli case or its resulting court order.

(Published by The Tech Herald 13, 2008)