Business Law Today, Comprehensive 10th Edition by Roger LeRoy Miller

Exercise 7

A Question of Ethics-Criminal Investigations. The U.S. government began a criminal investigation regarding the unauthorized release and the online posting of highly classified U.S. government documents to WikiLeaks.org (an international, online nonprofit organization that publishes secret information). Bradley Manning, a U.S. Army private first class, allegedly e-mailed these documents to the website. The government obtained a court order to require Twitter, Inc., to turn over sub­scriber information and communications to and from the e-mail addresses of Birgitta Jonsdottir and others. (Jonsdottir is a mem­ber of Parliament in Iceland and is a very active volunteer and spokesperson for WikiLeaks.org.) The court sealed the order, and the other documents in the case, reasoning that "there exists no right to public notice of all the types of documents filed in a... case." Jonsdottir and the others appealed this decision.
1. Why would the government want to "seal" the documents of an investigation Why would the individuals under in­vestigation want those documents to be "unsealed" What factors should be considered in striking a balance between these competing interests
2. How does law enforcement use social media to detect and prosecute criminals Is this use of social media an unethi­cal invasion of individuals' privacy Discuss.