Facebook

Many of you know that I *heart* facebook! It has been a great way to keep up with people and to reconnect people.

After using it for awhile I realized that there is some fine lines that you have to walk if you your co-workers have friended you or if your relatives have friended you. From that though, I have learned about some of the privacy controls that can be enabled so that only certain people can see certain things about me.

I have also learned how to tag photos but more importantly, how to untag photos. I heard one time that the busiest time on facebook is on Monday morning when everyone is looking for pictures that were posted from events over the weekend...and they are untagging the photos. Which leads to this story:

Canada woman to fight insurance co. over Facebook
By AMY LUFT
Associated,Press,Writer

MONTREAL (AP) -- A Canadian woman on sick leave for depression said Monday she would fight an insurance company's decision to cut her benefits after her agent found photos on Facebook of her vacationing, at a bar and at a party.

Nathalie Blanchard said Monday she was diagnosed with major depression and was receiving monthly sick-leave benefits until payments dried up this fall.

When Blanchard called her insurance provider, Manulife, to find out why, she says she was told the Facebook photos showed she was able to work.

"If you have insurance, be careful. This is a major battle and it's not going to be easy," Blanchard, 29, said in a telephone interview from her home in Bromont Quebec.

She said her insurance agent described several pictures Blanchard posted on Facebook, including ones showing her having a good time at a Chippendales bar show, at her birthday party and on a holiday.

Blanchard said Manulife told her it was evidence she is no longer depressed.

Her lawyer, Tom Lavin, said Blanchard was wrongfully dismissed from her benefits, and she had the right to go on a sunny vacation.

"The issue for me is that they stopped her disability benefits without the proper medical recommendations. Her doctor recommended she go on vacation," he said.

Blanchard said she took three four-day trips when she was feeling especially low, on her psychiatrist's advice.

Manulife declined to comment on the case specifically but has said in a statement that "we would not deny or terminate a valid claim solely based on information published on Web sites such as Facebook."

Still, Lavin said the issue raises concerns for anyone who expects their private life to remain so if they post personal information to social networking sites such as Facebook.

"It's good warning for people who use Facebook. It's not like being at home and writing in your diary. It's out there for the whole world to see," he said.

Blanchard's case will be before Quebec Superior Court Dec. 8.

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