A Facebook Poke Lands Woman in County Poke

Shannon Jackson of Hendersonville, TN was barred by court order to have any communications with a woman with whom she had been having a spat. So she poked the woman over facebook. Now that poke has landed her in jail.

From the Tennessean here:

A Hendersonville woman was arrested for virtually “poking” someone on the social networking site Facebook.

Shannon D. Jackson, 36, was arrested Friday, Sept. 25 for allegedly violating an order of protection.

According to the affidavit filed in Sumner County General Sessions Court, Jackson is accused of using the “poke” option on Facebook to contact a Hendersonville woman, thus violating the terms of the order of protection, which stipulates “no telephoning, contacting or otherwise communicating with the petitioner.”

Poking is a feature unique to Facebook that conveys no other message but informing a user they have been “poked” by another user.

I don’t know what prompted the restraining order. I’m guessing this was a lesbian breakup gone bad. A poke on Facebook is the equivalent of sending an empty envelope to someone in the mail. There are no contents of the message. Can a content-less one way message be considered communication?