Take Melvin Colon, who is facing charges of murder, along with weapons and narcotics-related crimes. The suspected New York gang member posted public photos on Facebook that showed him flashing gang signs but made private more incriminating posts, including references to past violent crimes and threats against others.Unfortunately for Colon, one of his Facebook friends agreed to give police access to Colon's "private" information, and on August 10, a federal judge ruled Colon lost all claims to privacy when he sharedthose details with friends.
A more controversial approach to getting information from social networks is going undercover online -- creating fake profiles to befriend suspects.
While these fake accounts may violate a social network's rules, they are not illegal. And evidence collected in this way can still hold up in court.
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