Facebook is challenging an appellate court ruling that deems legal a search warrant obtained by the Manhattan district attorney's office to execute what the social network says is an "unprecedented" data request in relation to investigations of disability fraud.
Last year, the New York County district attorney's office served Facebook a warrant demanding that the company provide almost complete account information of 381 Facebook users, including their private messages, pages they liked and posts since they joined Facebook. Facebook, which said the government has imposed a gag order on the data requests, questioned the warrant's legality due to its overarching nature of the warrant but was compelled to disclose the targeted users' records when the New York trial court declared Facebook had "no legal standing" to challenge the warrant and could face criminal contempt if it refuses to hand over the information.
The court has unsealed Wednesday documents relating to the case, allowing Facebook to speak about matters regarding the case. In previously confidential documents, the social network said that although it has complied with the request, it will continue to challenge the constitutionality of the warrant. In fact, Facebook has filed its opening brief on appeal Friday, asserting that the data request violated the Fourth Amendment rights of its users against unreasonable search and seizure and is now asking the court to order the district attorney's office to return or destroy all data obtained from the request.
"We recognize that law enforcement needs to investigate potential crimes, but we believe all government data requests must be narrowly tailored, proportionate to the case, and subject to strict judicial oversight," writes Facebook deputy general counsel Chris Sonderby, in a blog post. "Moreover, we believe search warrants for digital information should be specific and narrow in scope, just like warrants for physical evidence."
The data request eventually led to the high-profile indictment of more than 130 New York civil servants, most of whom were police officers and firefighters, who were found to have been cheating the government to obtain disability benefits.
"This was a massive scheme involving as many as 1,000 people who defrauded the federal government of more than $400 million in benefits," says Joan Vollero, spokesperson for Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. "The defendants in this case repeatedly lied to the government about their mental, physical and social capabilities. Their Facebook accounts told a different story."
Sixty-two of those indicted were among the 381 Facebook users whose data has been turned over to the government, which means more than 300 people will not be facing charges. Facebook says in its latest filing that this confirms that most of the information requested by the government is irrelevant to the investigation and that the warrants are "overbroad" and "constitutionally defective."
"Here, the Government has gone beyond what the Constitution permits and refuses to narrow intrusive and overbroad requests for private information," Facebook writes (pdf). "Critical constitutional rights are at stake."
