Increasingly, law enforcement is using social networking to communicate with citizens, but they are also finding that social networking sites are a great investigative tool. Although most of us realize that you wouldn’t want to post incriminating information on your MySpace or Facebook profile, not all criminals do. In fact, in a recent Newport News, VA, homicide investigation, detectives found evidence online that the wife of a murdered military officer was having an affair. This information eventually led to her arrest along with her boyfriend.
Most people don’t realize that the majority of the information you post on a social networking site is not actually private. Even if you set your profile to “private,” Facebook and MySpace are very cooperative with law enforcement in handing over access to profile information, pictures, blog posts, and more when a subpoena or court order is issued. Many of these sites even catalog profile changes. So even if you erase a picture or comment from your page, the company still has a record of the original content and can give it to law enforcement when requested.
Source: http://hamptonroads.com.nyud.net/2009/07/internet-some-get-tangled-own-webs
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