Fermil-Cervantes,
Fabian & Ong Abrantes
Law Office
When you share the password of your Facebook Messenger account with someone else, your expectation of privacy will be limited. This means that when that person accesses your account, you can no longer claim that your right to privacy had been violated. Worse, he or she can use your messages and photos in a criminal case against you. This was the ruling in the very recent case of Christian Cadajas vs. People of the Philippines (G.R. No. 247348, November 16, 2021) penned by Justice Lopez.
“Here, petitioner’s expectation of privacy emanates from the fact that his Facebook Messenger account is password protected, such that no one can access the same except himself. Petitioner never asserted that his Facebook Messenger account was hacked, or the photos were taken from his account through unauthorized means. Rather, the photos were obtained from his account because AAA, to whom he gave his password, had access to it. Considering that he voluntarily gave his password to AAA, he, in effect, has authorized AAA to access the same. He did not even take steps to exclude AAA from gaining access to his account. Having been given authority to access his Facebook Messenger account, petitioner’s reasonable expectation of privacy, in so far as AAA is concerned, had been limited. Thus, there is no violation of privacy to speak of.
While the messages and photos were taken from the Facebook Messenger of petitioner because AAA was forced by BBB to do so, such does not deviate from the fact that petitioner allowed another person to access his account. When he gave his Facebook Messenger password to AAA, he made its contents available to AAA, and the latter would then have the latitude to show to other persons what she could access, whether she be forced to do so or not. The availability of accessing these photos limited the scope of his right to privacy, especially that these became essential in pursuing AAA’s claims to protect her rights.”
The above decision of the Supreme Court calls for private individuals to always act morally and consciously, whether it be privately such as in private correspondences or publicly.
Digest by: Atty. Alexa Marie Singanon