Google Plus Invite Results In Man's Arrest For Violating A Restraining Order
from the requesting-permission-to-post-on-your-behalf,-jailbird dept
To many people, Google's social media platform, Google+, remains a conundrum. Is it a Facebook competitor? Is it Google's efficient way of consolidating its power disparate services into a cohesive whole? Is it an ASCII penis generator?
One thing it might be is a brand new way to get in trouble. Matthew A. Sawtell sends in this story of one man whose dip into Google's social media pool resulted in his arrest.
Prosecutors say Thomas Gagnon violated a restraining order by sending his former girlfriend an invitation to join his Google Plus circle.Gagnon's attorney may not be far off. If Gagnon's estranged ex used other Google services like Gmail to communicate with Gagnon back in happier days, there's a good chance she was inserted into a list of potential Google+ "friends*" in order to easily insert them into Circles.
But Gagnon’s attorney says his client has no idea how the woman he once planned to marry — popping the question with a $4,000 ring earlier this month — got such an invitation, suggesting that it might have been sent by a robot.
Then again, how Google generates its suggested contacts is considered a black art by much of the population, although the prevailing notion is that if Google owns it and you use it, you're on the list. The judge presiding over Gagnon's somewhat unexpected appearance in court had this bit of insight on the social media platform.
A Salem District Court judge yesterday admitted he wasn’t sure exactly how such invitations work on Google’s social media site…That didn't stop him from setting Gagnon's bail at $500 and ordering him to stay away from his ex-girlfriend.
Gagnon's attorney continued to maintain that Google+ auto-violated the restraining order. The judge countered by expressing his doubt of Gagnon's ability to follow court orders, suggesting something went a bit off the rails during the original hearing.
Whether or not Google+ attempted to widen Gagnon's social circle by including a woman who had taken out a restraining order against him is still unclear. What's perfectly clear, however, is that the situation behind Gagnon's current legal problems escalated very quickly.
On Friday, Gagnon gave his momentary fiancée a $4,000 engagement ring. The next day (Saturday) she broke up with him. By Monday, she had taken out a restraining order. By Thursday, Gagnon was back facing the judge after his allegedly inadvertently "mailing out" a Google+ invitation to his ex. (This itself was the result of some speedy escalation. Gagnon's ex took a printout of the invitation to the police who had him in custody less than ninety minutes later.)
What could have provoked this expeditious onslaught of small, personal calamities? Details are sparse, but the article signs off with these lines.
It’s not clear from court papers whether the ring has been returned to Gagnon.If Gagnon wants to stay on the good side of the law, he should probably just unplug from the internet. Plenty of social media services mine contact lists and are more than happy to mass mail out invitations with a single click of the "accept" button.
A status hearing in the case is set for Feb. 6.
Filed Under: automatic invites, google plus, restraining order
