Facebook Chats Admissible in Child Porn Trial

By Patrick Gregory, Bloomberg BNA

Facebook chats used to convict a child pornography defendant were properly authenticated based on extrinsic evidence, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held.

It was the court’s first ruling concerning the “proper authentication of social media records,” the decision by Judge Cheryl Ann Krause said.

“We hold today that it is no less proper to consider a wide range of evidence for the authentication of social media records than it is for more traditional documentary evidence,” the court said.

Tony Jefferson Browne — whose conviction the court affirmed — argued that the government failed to show that he authored the communications, ...