Hi Brumby...yes it was an illuminating look at current legal ramifications...and the double edged nature of the social networking craze. I found it interesting that other areas of law can deal with unlawfully accessing someone else's private email, or facebook account etc as a federal crime...now that's when it gets really interesting. Laws are evolving...but it's jurisdiction that gives the biggest headaches I believe.......NSW has had recent changes to the Crimes Act, relevant to Stalking and which focuses on the newly emerging cyber element of that particular criminal activity....I have that link somewhere....Melbourne by comparison have had serious cyber stalking penalties in place since 2003 = up to 10 year sentence. Not sure of other states, but you get the gist of the jurisdictional issues that exist between one State and another vs Federally. As that lawyer was saying, whereas that woman's claim may not be winnable under stalking laws, it would classify as a breach of federal privacy and telecommunications laws.
Interestingly, the sites themselves, try to avoid all manner of responsibility, and sometimes in complete breach of their site rules....for instance...impersonation is against Twitter rules, but that doesn't stop people from signing up under someone else's name for the sole purpose of harassment....
As for sellers using Twitter and Facebook to network...provided there is no way to link those accounts back to you as a real life person, and provided you protect your password, it may actually be in your best interest to open accounts on the most popular sites, but only for business.... Why? well, it ensures that nobody else can register an Imposter account under your business name, for the sole purpose of attacking your reputation.
It's a fascinating subject.
