In my career as a bankruptcy lawyer, I thought I had seen just about everything in the on-going war between consumers and debt collectors. Today, a new twist – a court in Australia has permitted a mortgage lender to use Facebook as a means to notify a homeowner about pending foreclosure.
On December 12, 2008, the Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court ruled that MKM Capital could use Facebook to serve legal documents on borrowers who had previously been evading other means of service.
So far, reaction to the Australian Court’s decision has not been positive. Several commentators in Australia note that Facebook is intended to foster social relationships, rather than to serve as a tool for commercial interests to collect debts.
Residents of the United States are not in any danger of receiving a “super poke” from bill collectors anytime soon. Laws in the United States require bill collectors to respect customers privacy and Facebook itself offers users the option to block undesireable “friends.” The United State also guarantees its residents due process of law – an email in a Facebook inbox would not withstand a procedure challenge.
However, I think that we can learn from this story that all of us should understand that our privacy is at risk when we document parts of our life online. Take a look at your Facebook, MySpace, Plaxo or Twitter profile. How much information could a nefarious third party learn about you simply by studying your various profiles. How often do your online profiles contain the answers to “secret” profile questions that you answer when you set up your online access to a bank. You may remember that a hacker broke in to Sarah Palin’s Yahoo account by guessing the answer to her identify confirmation question and changing the password to her account.