Over in Australia, a trial judge has approved service of process in a loan foreclosure case to be made by posting the suit papers to the defendant's Facebook account.
"It's somewhat novel, however we do see it as a valid method of bringing the matter to the attention of the defendant," the plaintiff's attorney is quoted as saying in the Telegraph.co.uk article.
Courts in the United States (the Ninth Circuit's 2002 decision in Rio Properties Inc. v. Rio International Interlink, for example) have already approved service of court papers via e-mail on several occasions. Among many Internet users, Facebook is preferred over e-mail as a means of communication. And there is often little doubt as to the owner of a Facebook profile, which in many cases are assiduously cultivated and personalized; in this case, for example, the defendant's Facebook profile contained date of birth info, e-mail addresses and a list of acquaintances.
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