Facebook Sued by Family of Murder Victim

For the second time in as many weeks, Facebook has been sued for content posted on its social networking website by a third party.  Crimesider reports that the family of New York murder victim Caroline Wimmer sued Facebook after a paramedic took a cell phone photo of the crime scene and posted it on the social networking website.

One of the first on the scene, former emergency medical technician Mark Musarella, used his cell phone camera to snap a grisly photo of the corpse, which he then uploaded to Facebook. He pleaded guilty to official misconduct and lost his job, reports CBS station WCBS. . . . A civil suit now names Musarella and Facebook.

Facebook reports that it has not been served with the lawsuit and therefore will not comment.  If and when Facebook it served, it may be shielded under the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which protects operators of Internet services to the extent they are not to be construed as publishers, and thus not legally liable for the words of third parties who use their services.