Facebook Inc. can turn down a murder suspect’s demand for user communications because releasing the information would violate a federal data privacy law, an appeals court ruled.
The Jan. 3 ruling by a three-member panel of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, D.C.'s highest court, overturned a contempt order against Facebook.
Facebook was subpoenaed by criminal defendant Daron Wint for the communications as part of the discovery process in his murder case. But Judge Roy W. McLeese, writing for the panel, said the federal Stored Communications Act (SCA), which governs the disclosure of electronic information, protects such information.
The ...
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