Hi Drug Seize

Manley Hanley

Hi is it possible for a guy who works in the courts to hack in to a persons facebook or girlfriends and read conversations that might imply that this person does sell or has sold drugs i.e ecstasy and how much they might owe out to a dealer.
Is the facebook messages enough alone to act upon even though it was attained illegally
1000 euros worth or something in that region maybe

deandean

Stuff on facebook is effectively in the public domain, usually it doesn't need to be hacked to access.

I do hope no one would be so stupid as to post incriminating evidence about him/herself on FB

Manley Hanley

it was in private messages though, which could only be attained by signin in to facebook from that users account

ResearchWill

Manley Hanley wrote: »

Hi is it possible for a guy who works in the courts to hack in to a persons facebook or girlfriends and read conversations that might imply that this person does sell or has sold drugs i.e ecstasy and how much they might owe out to a dealer.
Is the facebook messages enough alone to act upon even though it was attained illegally
1000 euros worth or something in that region maybe

Why would anyone in the courts be gathering evidence.

In answer may yes maybe no. It depends on how the information was accessed, was the constitution rights infringed, was a warrent granted etc, was the information gathered from computer after arrest. It's a new area and has not really been settled yet. I know of information from Facebook being used in both criminal and civil cases.

Ashashi

If you are a drugs user I would suggest cutting down because paranoia seems to have set in.

srsly78

Same as any other kind of information request warrant OP, so yes they can. There is no hacking involved tho, the police just show a warrant and Facebook hands them over the data. Not sure if "warrant" is the right term for this jurisdiction but there is an equivalent.

Boards gets sent legal orders compelling them to reveal information all the time, similarly with Google and Facebook etc. Similarly with mobile carriers, they can be forced to reveal all your texts (deleting them off your phone is no good).

shanered

Ashashi wrote: »

If you are a drugs user I would suggest cutting down because paranoia seems to have set in.

I suppose you used "if", but even if the OP is not a drug user your insinuating that he/she is paranoid, it seems like a reasonable question rather than not adding any information and calling the OP paranoid is rather unhelpful.
It seems like it would be a strange way to obtain information, but he could make a complaint to the Garda who may try investigate the claims.

I wouldn't be so sure on the legality of somebody accessing somebodies else's facebook account, i'm sure its not a crime written into legislation at this stage anyways.

ResearchWill

shanered wrote: »

I suppose you used "if", but even if the OP is not a drug user your insinuating that he/she is paranoid, it seems like a reasonable question rather than not adding any information and calling the OP paranoid is rather unhelpful.
It seems like it would be a strange way to obtain information, but he could make a complaint to the Garda who may try investigate the claims.

I wouldn't be so sure on the legality of somebody accessing somebodies else's facebook account, i'm sure its not a crime written into legislation at this stage anyways.

Been on the statute book since 1991, Criminal Damage Act, 1991 section 5.

"http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1991/en/act/pub/0031/sec0005.html#sec5


Unauthorised accessing of data.

5.—(1) A person who without lawful excuse operates a computer—

(a) within the State with intent to access any data kept either within or outside the State, or

(b) outside the State with intent to access any data kept within the State,

shall, whether or not he accesses any data, be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £500 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or both.

(2) Subsection (1) applies whether or not the person intended to access any particular data or any particular category of data or data kept by any particular person.

Under Fines Act 2010 fine is now €1,000.00.

ldxo15wus6fpgm

Could be quite simple in reality for whichever officer of the court OP thinks is out to get him to just mention something to a Garda in passing, resulting in warrant and subsequent charges...

Best course of action is to stop selling drugs.

I don't mean to derail the thread but I do have a query... if I accidentally stumbled upon data incriminating someone else, say by going onto their facebook profile without realising, is my testimony on this incriminating evidence admissible?
I want to say it is but I'm not sure. Can't see why it wouldn't be though.

belcampprisoner

http://www.afentis.com/forensic-science-articles/facebook-evidence



http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/news/2010-06-29-facebook-divorce_N.htm