Bad Idea: Don’t Google How to Rob a Bank

Why Googling about how to rob a bank is not recommended is just one item in the June 2015 issue of the U.S. bulletin Connected.

The bulletin, which covers news about the impact of new social media on courts, is published by the Virginia-based National Center for State Courts and the Conference of Court Public Information Officers.

It is a great place to find out about how courts are trying to adapt to the world of Facebooking judges, tweeting witnesses, Instagramming lawyers, and jury members doing their own research on the Internet. Most items are American but they have occasionally had news from other countries such as Canada.

In this month’s issue:

  • Law clerk in trouble over Facebook comments about trooper’s death
  • Advice: don’t Google how to rob a bank
  • Illinois law would give executors easier access to Facebook, digital accounts
  • Texas judge named “Tweeter Laureate”
  • Social media tip of the month—become a resource on Facebook

Comments

  1. Good headline – but it wasn’t just the Google search for that topic, it was doing so and robbing a bank, that got the searcher into trouble. It’s not really clear from the brief write-up why the search was relevant, since the act of the holdup would seem to convey a pretty clear mental element.

    I see the searcher’s husband who also participated in the robbery and subsequent car chase was convicted, among other things, of ‘vehicular eluding’. I don’t recall seeing that one in the Criminal Code or Highway Traffic Act here.