Disabled claimant's Facebook time checked

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 10 (UPI) -- A Canadian man seeking disability payments will have his computer's hard disk drive analyzed to see how much time he spends visiting the Facebook Web site.

In Cranbrook, British Columbia, Supreme Court Judge Thomas Melnick agreed with a defense motion to examine the computer activities of Brendon Bishop, who says he is too fatigued to work after a July 2005 car accident.

Bishop sued the provincial insurance agency and the other driver for permanent disability payments, the Vancouver Sun said.

"The (computer) information sought by the defense in this case may have significant probative value in relation to the plaintiff's past and future wage loss," the judge said in the ruling. "Additionally, privacy concerns are not at issue because the order sought is so narrow that it does not have the potential to unnecessarily delve into private aspects of the plaintiff's life."

The newspaper said some 100 million people log onto the Facebook social networking site each day and spend time browsing, chatting and posting personal information.