Facebook and the law

WILL nothing persuade Facebook to serve justice and comfort a grieving mother by helping police in their investigation of 13-year-old Lucy McHugh’s murder?

It is easy to guess why prime suspect Stephen Nicholson accepted a 14-month prison sentence rather than give officers access to his social media account. Yet still the US giant refuses to disclose his password – supposedly out of high-minded concern to protect its users’ confidentiality.

What arrant hypocrisy! Isn’t it crystal clear that Facebook cares nothing about privacy or justice, but only about money?

As Met Commissioner Cressida Dick says, detectives should be able to access suspects’ profiles ‘within minutes’. With MPs united in outrage, a crackdown is long overdue.