Citizensheep » Man jailed over accidental Facebook message

8 October, 2007

Man jailed over accidental Facebook message

This is a bit scary: a man who had been ordered not to contact his wife was jailed when he inadvertently sent her a message on Facebook.

He claims the sign-up process confused him—in the same way that it confused me—by sending automatic friend requests to people in his existing contacts lists.

“I certainly hadn’t intended to contact my wife,” reports The Telegraph. “I didn’t even know she had a Facebook account. To be honest, I don’t think the judge understood how it works either.”

Which to me is the scary bit. Why didn’t the judge know? What steps were taken to ensure the judge fully understood the situation?

The way social lives are being conducted has changed rapidly over the last few years. The legal system—and those who support it—need properly to understand that.