Be Careful of What You Post on Social Media Sites
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The Staten Island Advance has reported that police recently arrested a 31-year old Staten Island resident for discharging a firearm. Although I cannot and do not condone such behavior, what is unique (although become less so) is how the police caught the alleged shooter. Tipped off by a 911 call, the police uncovered his Facebook boast of a night of drinking followed by the brilliant idea to fire his father's handgun into the neighboring swamp land. Now its easy to see that this person had what can be best described as less than average intelligence, but many people are still hurt by social networks.
When injured client's come into my office, especially younger clients that have Facebook right on their smart-phones, they leave my office with a copy of my report, The Dangers of Social Networking Sites, which informs them of the real dangers that these sites pose. All too often, people are quick to post the details of their accident to their Facebook or My Space pages. Sometimes, although seemingly innocent, the posts can compromise your claim for personal injuries. Its very easy for an insurance adjuster to search the Internet and find out vast amounts of information. They are able to find out your friend's names, your likes and dislikes, activities that you participate in and even possibly see some pictures. You can bet that this information "can and will be used against you in a court of law", without any warnings.
The posts can also lead to your house being robbed. People were instantly posting information on-line, providing their "friends" with almost real-time location information. Others would post about their wonderful vacation plans, detailing when they would be leaving and when they would be coming home. With a little bit of research, a thief would be able to gain entry into your home without any fear of being surprised and take their time to thoroughly search your home, possibly even returning on multiple occasions.
Be careful with the information you share, who you accept as friends and continually check the security settings on your social network accounts. Besides the possibility of your personal information being shared with the wrong people, some of your quotes or posts may lead to an unwanted situation. So if you hesitate before you post, maybe you shouldn't have posted it after all.
