The Legal Aid Society is echoing the widespread concerns of privacy and civil liberties advocates in drawing attention to the power imbalance that puts social media users at a tremendous disadvantage when law enforcement seeks private information in the course of a criminal investigation. The Stored Communications Act of 1986, which prohibits an “electronic communications service provider” from sharing users’ communication and account records, exempts law enforcement from this rule – meaning that the very legal landscape itself prioritizes law enforcement over user rights.

The situation puts defense attorneys at tremendous disadvantage – especially when clients do not have the economic resources necessary to plod through the legal framework, filing subpoena requests for private information that is provided to law enforcement automatically.

“You know what Facebook tells me I have to do to get even the stuff I’m entitled to?” said Jerome Greco, an attorney at the Legal Aid Society in New York City. “I have to get it personally served on them in California. And the only way to do that under current US law is to have a judge in New York sign the subpoena, then have it brought to a judge in California to also sign the subpoena, and then have it served on Facebook at their headquarters.”