According to Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) and author Dawn Lomer, 74% of adults engaging in online activity visit and/or participate in one or more social networking sites. Over 70% of that group visits and/or participates in Facebook. Many times, online inquiries provide worthwhile leads for all types of problem solving. What is your position on the use of social media inquiries in the goals of your investigations, and what instructions do you provide to your private detectives on behalf of you and your organization in this regard?
Many Private Detectives look for novel and cost effective ways to gather information in furtherance of their clients’ needs. At the same time, Private Detectives are sued mostly for various types of intrusive behavior, and certain types of inquiries can be seriously invasive. Although the greater amount of social media accounts are not privacy enabled, many times, those that are closed can be accessed through subterfuge and pretexting tactics. Do you want to potentially be held liable along with your detective for his/her violation of someone’s reasonable expectation of privacy?
Check out Michigan’s Internet Privacy Protection Act of 2012! Although the statute primarily addresses employers’ relationships with job applicants and employees, it does define what is public and what is private. If you have any doubts/questions about how to apply social media inquiries to the goals in your investigation, discuss with your detective and provide specific instructions in writing to ensure compliance.
Research North, Inc. (RNI), is a professional private detective service providing support to the business community, the insurance industry and individuals in Michigan and Wisconsin since 1981. The company also offers pre-employment background checks to small and medium sized businesses through a subsidiary called Backgroundcheckswork.com that is fully staffed by professional investigators who are retired from law enforcement.
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