If you have nothing to hide, this seems safe enough, but perhaps if you have any hidden agenda’s or secrets that you “only” share with your Facebook friends, you might want to re-think your buddy list.

This new quest that the FEDS are on to fight for justice and the American way, to expose the snake in the grass, or stop criminals from gathering personal information from the “good guys” who have been enjoying social networking as we tweet from face to face, and stay linked-in with one another has been discovered as a result of a document that surfaced in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. The document revealed that federal agents are utilizing social network sites in order to keep tabs on suspects activities as they, “exchange messages with suspects, identify a target’s friends or relatives and browse private information such as postings, personal photographs and video clips.”

While this is excellent for keeping track of those using social networking for devious purposes, is it somewhat invading our privacy?

A former U.S. cybersecurity prosecutor, Marc Zwillinger, said investigators should be able to go undercover in the online world the same way they do in the real world, even if such conduct is barred by a company’s rules. But there have to be limits, he said.  In the face-to-face world, agents can’t impersonate a suspect’s spouse, child, parent or best friend. But online, behind the guise of a social-networking account, they can.

Zwillinger added, “Investigators should be able to go undercover in the online world the same way they do in the real world, even if such conduct is barred by a company’s rules. But there have to be limits. This new situation presents a need for careful oversight so that law enforcement does not use social networking to intrude on some of our most personal relationships,” said Zwillinger, whose firm does legal work for Yahoo and MySpace.”

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When Tweets Can Make You a Jailbird