When the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) was authored in 1978, no one had any idea what social media was. However, in 2011, social media is rapidly moving to the forefront of the debt collection industry, offering primarily ways to locate people, but also new ways of haranguing people who haven't paid their debts.
A court in Orlando is allowing a lawsuit to proceed under the FDCPA which alleges that a debt collector used facebook to unlawfully harass a debtor. The debt collector was arguing that social media sites are not covered under the FDCPA, and this court did not agree. This is a very important issue, and likely a larger body of appellate law will develop quickly.
Other than the slightly more modern "technology" of FaceBook, this case is not "novel" at all. http://www.fdcpa.me/facebook-friends-debt-collector/ The FDCPA was enacted over 30 years ago, it prohibited debt collectors from disclosing debts to anyone other than a consumer or the consumer's spouse without a court order unless the debt collector was enforcing a judgment or the consumer gave the collection agency express permission to contact other people. ttp://www.fdcpa.me/block-parties-and-other-neighborhood-get-togethers/
ReplyDeleteA collection agencies that is "aggressive" enough to post on a FaceBook wall deserves whatever happens.