The Social Networking Online Protection Act was introduced today by Congressman Elliot Engel of New York. The bill would ban employers and schools from requiring access to password protected digital content. The bill is a win for businesses, schools, and privacy. The bill would protect businesses and schools from creating a legal duty to monitor password protected digital content. Therefore, the bill protects businesses, schools, and taxpayers. In addition, the bill is a win for employees, job applicants, students, and student applicants because it protects them from being required to provide access to their password protected digital content
During my conversation with Bob Sullivan of MSNBC I stated that SNOPA provides employers and schools a shield against legal liability so no one can claim that employers and schools have a legal duty to monitor password protected digital content. In addition, I mentioned that because the bill protects a wide range of interests, it has a better chance at success than previous efforts.
To learn more about these issues you may contact me at http://shearlaw.com/attorney_profile.
Copyright 2012 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC. All rights reserved.
(Full Dislcosure: I am working with Congressman Engel's office on this issue in a pro bono capacity. If you believe this is important legislation please contact Congress to voice your support)
Friday, April 27, 2012
Monday, April 23, 2012
Occupy Wall Street Public Tweets Subpoena Decision May Have A Troubling Analysis
A judge ruled earlier today that deleted public tweets may be used as evidence in an Occupy Wall Street protestor's trial. While I generally agree with the main point of this decision that public Tweets are fair game, some of the analysis behind the decision may be very troubling.
Once a Tweet is public to the entire world you don't have an expectation of privacy even if the Tweet has been deleted. Former Congressman Anthony Weiner learned the hard way (no pun intended) that once you post something publicly you have no expectation of privacy. However, if one has a protected Twitter account where the owner of the account has the ability to choose who may have access to his Tweets and/or sends a Twitter Direct Message the user may have an expectation of privacy and then a warrant may be needed for the government to be able to access the Tweets and/or the Direct Messages.
One aspect of the decision I found to be very troubling was on page 4 where it states, "Twitter’s license to use the defendant’s Tweets means that the Tweets the defendant posted were not his." I believe that this analysis is incorrect and demonstrates that Judge Matthew A. Sciarrino, Jr. may not fully understand social media, digital technology, and public policy. In addition, on page 6 of the decision, it states, "While the Fourth Amendment provides protection for our physical homes, we do not have a physical “home” on the Internet." If Judge Sciarrino's reasoning is extended to all online services that may mean that as a society we don't have an expectation of privacy for password protected digital content. If we don't have an expectation of privacy for our password protected digital content this may drastically harm the ability for technology companies to monetize cloud computing and other future electronic services because businesses and consumers may be hesitant to utilize these services if the government has the ability to access our password protected digital content without a warrant.
While we may not have an expectation of privacy for our public Tweets, some of the analysis for this decision is terribly flawed and demonstrates the need for our judiciary to become better educated about the issues inherent with social media and technology.
To learn how social media intersects with the law you may contact me at http://shearlaw.com/attorney_profile.
Copyright 2012 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC. All rights reserved.
Once a Tweet is public to the entire world you don't have an expectation of privacy even if the Tweet has been deleted. Former Congressman Anthony Weiner learned the hard way (no pun intended) that once you post something publicly you have no expectation of privacy. However, if one has a protected Twitter account where the owner of the account has the ability to choose who may have access to his Tweets and/or sends a Twitter Direct Message the user may have an expectation of privacy and then a warrant may be needed for the government to be able to access the Tweets and/or the Direct Messages.
One aspect of the decision I found to be very troubling was on page 4 where it states, "Twitter’s license to use the defendant’s Tweets means that the Tweets the defendant posted were not his." I believe that this analysis is incorrect and demonstrates that Judge Matthew A. Sciarrino, Jr. may not fully understand social media, digital technology, and public policy. In addition, on page 6 of the decision, it states, "While the Fourth Amendment provides protection for our physical homes, we do not have a physical “home” on the Internet." If Judge Sciarrino's reasoning is extended to all online services that may mean that as a society we don't have an expectation of privacy for password protected digital content. If we don't have an expectation of privacy for our password protected digital content this may drastically harm the ability for technology companies to monetize cloud computing and other future electronic services because businesses and consumers may be hesitant to utilize these services if the government has the ability to access our password protected digital content without a warrant.
While we may not have an expectation of privacy for our public Tweets, some of the analysis for this decision is terribly flawed and demonstrates the need for our judiciary to become better educated about the issues inherent with social media and technology.
To learn how social media intersects with the law you may contact me at http://shearlaw.com/attorney_profile.
Copyright 2012 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC. All rights reserved.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Maryland: The First State To Protect our Social Media Privacy and Security
Maryland has become the first state to protect the social media and electronic account privacy and security of its citizens. The legislation is a win for employers and employees. The Maryland legislature said loud and clear that in these difficult times businesses should not be required to spend tens of thousands of dollars per year to hire social media monitoring companies to review their employees' password protected digital content. In order to become enacted, SB 433 still needs to be signed by Governor Martin O'Malley. Once it is has been signed, the legislation will not go into effect until October 1, 2012. Therefore, until this legislation becomes law nothing has changed in the sate of Maryland.
This legislation may also shield companies in Maryland from lawsuits that allege that a company failed to properly monitor their employees' private electronic content and from negligent social media monitoring lawsuits. The potential savings to Maryland businesses per year is tens of millions of dollars. In general, Maryland employees will now be protected against being required to turn their password protected digital content in order to obtain or keep a job.
I personally reached out to Facebook about Maryland's legislation and asked them for their support. I want to publicly thank Facebook for their assistance. To Facebook's credit, they came out strongly against employers and schools demanding access to password protected digital content on March 23, 2012. I am hopeful that Facebook along with other Internet companies will strongly support federal legislation that would protect both employees and students from having their electronic account privacy and security compromised by those who don't understand social media, the law, or public policy.
For most jobs, employees should not be required to provide access to their password protected electronic content. In addition, students at public schools should never be required to provide access to their password protected electronic content to their schools and/or social media monitoring companies such as UDiligence, Varsity Monitor, or Centrix Social.
(Full Disclosure: I was not paid for my work on this legislation. There is a tremendous lack of understanding about the legal and public policy issues inherent in the Social Media Age and I want to protect employers, employees, job applicants, schools, students, student applicants, and taxpayers from unforeseen legal issues that may arise. Therefore, I was in constant contact with Maryland State Senator Ronald Young and Maryland State Delegate Shawn Tarrant to work with them to create a common sense solution to these problems.)
To learn how social media intersects with the law you may contact me at http://shearlaw.com/attorney_profile.
Copyright 2012 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC. All rights reserved.
This legislation may also shield companies in Maryland from lawsuits that allege that a company failed to properly monitor their employees' private electronic content and from negligent social media monitoring lawsuits. The potential savings to Maryland businesses per year is tens of millions of dollars. In general, Maryland employees will now be protected against being required to turn their password protected digital content in order to obtain or keep a job.
I personally reached out to Facebook about Maryland's legislation and asked them for their support. I want to publicly thank Facebook for their assistance. To Facebook's credit, they came out strongly against employers and schools demanding access to password protected digital content on March 23, 2012. I am hopeful that Facebook along with other Internet companies will strongly support federal legislation that would protect both employees and students from having their electronic account privacy and security compromised by those who don't understand social media, the law, or public policy.
For most jobs, employees should not be required to provide access to their password protected electronic content. In addition, students at public schools should never be required to provide access to their password protected electronic content to their schools and/or social media monitoring companies such as UDiligence, Varsity Monitor, or Centrix Social.
On February 20, 2011, I publicly stated that this issue, "may one day be decided by the courts and/or state legislatures and/or Congress." I am proud to have successfully lobbied Maryland to pass this groundbreaking legislation. I have discussed these troubling issues with multiple state legislators across the country and federal officials. I am hopeful that more states and the federal government pass similar legislation. I urge everyone to lobby their representatives in their state legislatures and in Congress to pass bipartisan legislation that protects the personal electronic privacy and security rights of employees and students and provides the business community with bright lines rules that will protect them against social media lawsuits.
(Full Disclosure: I was not paid for my work on this legislation. There is a tremendous lack of understanding about the legal and public policy issues inherent in the Social Media Age and I want to protect employers, employees, job applicants, schools, students, student applicants, and taxpayers from unforeseen legal issues that may arise. Therefore, I was in constant contact with Maryland State Senator Ronald Young and Maryland State Delegate Shawn Tarrant to work with them to create a common sense solution to these problems.)
To learn how social media intersects with the law you may contact me at http://shearlaw.com/attorney_profile.
Copyright 2012 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC. All rights reserved.
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