Police in British Columbia say you should watch what you put on an online social network because certain types of postings could land you in trouble with the law.
Increasingly, evidence obtained from online chats or other digital items shared online is finding its way into courts.
"It's fair to say that as a police organization, those sites are monitored one way or another," said Sgt. Peter Thiessen of the Lower Mainland District Police Service.
"You need to be careful what you provide on those sites and conduct yourself accordingly," he said.
It was a threat on a social network that drew police to a home in Gibsons, B.C., on Friday. Police investigating the case shot Leonard Kirkham after an altercation.
Threats posted online, and connected to a young Templeton Secondary student in Vancouver prompted concerned students to call police in late May. They found a cache of weapons in the student's house, and he was arrested.
Last year, in Medicine Hat, Alta., a young man was convicted of murdering his girlfriend's parents, partially because he used a social networking to discuss the murder.
An online chat he had with a friend was downloaded and read out word for word in court.
And it's soon going to get easier for police to use sites like Facebook in their investigations. Last week, the Conservative government introduced a bill that would allow police to obtain personal information about internet users without a warrant.
"Twenty-first century technology calls for 21st century tools for police to effectively investigate crime," said Conservative M.P. Rob Nicholson at the time.
With a report by CTV British Columbia's Jon Woodward
