Yesterday, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal signed a bill that bans Tweeting while driving. SB 147 will become effective August 1, 2013, and violators may be fined up to $175 for the first offense and up to $500 for subsequent violations.
The new law bans not only Tweeting, but any other social media usage while driving. I believe it is important for drivers and auto manufacturers to become more aware of the distracted driving issues inherent with making one's car a mobile/apps interconnected hub. This new law is another example of the tremendous legal liability issues inherent with social media usage.
To learn how to properly handle social media liability issues you may contact me at www.shearlaw.com.
Copyright 2013 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC. All rights reserved.
To inform about the legal, business, privacy, cyber security, and public policy issues that confront those who utilize digital platforms.
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Friday, May 31, 2013
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Facebook losing advertising revenues due to hate speech
Facebook is the most popular social network in the world. However, being the most popular social media platform may also create unforeseen challenges because some people and/or entities may post inappropriate and/or illegal content onto your platform. According to the New York Times and Financial Times, multiple advertisers have stopped placing ads on Facebook because some of them have appeared next to allegedly offensive content.
Several advocacy groups have privately and publicly complained to Facebook about the content posted on its platform. While Facebook may have initially inadvertently missed these complaints, they have caught the attention of some advertisers. This matter may demonstrate the need for Facebook to either create a better algorithm that scans uploaded content and/or hire more people to respond to consumer complaints.
While many advertisers rely on targeted/behavioral advertising, this situation appears to demonstrate one of the downsides of this type of advertising if the proper safeguards are not implemented. Due to the viral nature of social media, companies must better understand the platforms they utilize as advertising partners.
To learn how to properly handle social media advertising issues you may contact me at www.shearlaw.com.
Copyright 2013 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC. All rights reserved.
Several advocacy groups have privately and publicly complained to Facebook about the content posted on its platform. While Facebook may have initially inadvertently missed these complaints, they have caught the attention of some advertisers. This matter may demonstrate the need for Facebook to either create a better algorithm that scans uploaded content and/or hire more people to respond to consumer complaints.
While many advertisers rely on targeted/behavioral advertising, this situation appears to demonstrate one of the downsides of this type of advertising if the proper safeguards are not implemented. Due to the viral nature of social media, companies must better understand the platforms they utilize as advertising partners.
To learn how to properly handle social media advertising issues you may contact me at www.shearlaw.com.
Copyright 2013 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC. All rights reserved.
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Washington State Bans NCAA Schools From Using Social Media Monitoring Services on Coaches
Washington State has banned employers from generally requiring employees to turn over their personal social media credentials. Earlier this week, Washington Governor Inslee signed SB 521 that will protect Washington state employers from becoming required to hire social media monitoring companies to review the personal digital accounts of their employees.
This law may save Washington employers tens of millions of dollars in potential costs associated with social media monitoring the personal digital accounts of employees and it will protect the personal privacy of employees. This includes the costs associated with hiring social media monitoring companies, increased cyber liability insurance costs, and legal fees and judgements inherent with negligent social media monitoring. The law was enacted because some companies are contacting employers, in particular colleges, to sell them social media monitoring services that are legal liability time bombs.
If an employer is monitoring the personal digital accounts of their employees and misses an issue that may indicate an employee may be violating the law and the employer does not report this information to the proper authorities in a timely manner the employer may have tremendous legal liability. A handful of emails from more than 10 years ago appears to be the main evidence that several high level administrators at Penn State knew that Jerry Sandusky was molesting young boys on its campus. Absent the digital evidence, it would have been much more difficult to prove that some Penn State employees allegedly knew about Jerry Sandusky's illegal activities. The email evidence so far appears to have cost Penn State almost $50 million dollars in fines, legal and investigatory fees, and other related costs.
The only way for an employer to know whether a particular personal digital account belongs to an employee is if it verifies that the account belongs to the person whom it claims to represent. In other words, for a social media monitoring service to properly work an employee must at a minimum authentic his personal social media user name. In general, verifying a personal social media user name violates Washington's SB 521 along with laws in approximately ten other states. Therefore, Washington employers, including schools may not utilize social media monitoring companies to track their employees' personal digital accounts.
To learn how to properly handle social media issues in your company or school you may contact me at www.shearlaw.com.
Copyright 2013 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC. All rights reserved.
This law may save Washington employers tens of millions of dollars in potential costs associated with social media monitoring the personal digital accounts of employees and it will protect the personal privacy of employees. This includes the costs associated with hiring social media monitoring companies, increased cyber liability insurance costs, and legal fees and judgements inherent with negligent social media monitoring. The law was enacted because some companies are contacting employers, in particular colleges, to sell them social media monitoring services that are legal liability time bombs.
If an employer is monitoring the personal digital accounts of their employees and misses an issue that may indicate an employee may be violating the law and the employer does not report this information to the proper authorities in a timely manner the employer may have tremendous legal liability. A handful of emails from more than 10 years ago appears to be the main evidence that several high level administrators at Penn State knew that Jerry Sandusky was molesting young boys on its campus. Absent the digital evidence, it would have been much more difficult to prove that some Penn State employees allegedly knew about Jerry Sandusky's illegal activities. The email evidence so far appears to have cost Penn State almost $50 million dollars in fines, legal and investigatory fees, and other related costs.
The only way for an employer to know whether a particular personal digital account belongs to an employee is if it verifies that the account belongs to the person whom it claims to represent. In other words, for a social media monitoring service to properly work an employee must at a minimum authentic his personal social media user name. In general, verifying a personal social media user name violates Washington's SB 521 along with laws in approximately ten other states. Therefore, Washington employers, including schools may not utilize social media monitoring companies to track their employees' personal digital accounts.
To learn how to properly handle social media issues in your company or school you may contact me at www.shearlaw.com.
Copyright 2013 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC. All rights reserved.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Will Anthony Weiner's "Weiner" Tweets Derail His Candidacy For Mayor of New York City?
New York City is the greatest city in the world. I lived in the City (NYC'ers call it the City) before and after 9/11. It is the city that is full of come back stories. As Frank Sinatra sang in New York New York, "if I can make it there I can make it anywhere". Almost two years ago, former Congressman Anthony Weiner resigned from Congress because of inappropriate Tweets he sent that contained photos of his private parts. However, he has recently announced his candidacy for Mayor of New York City.
In 2011, Weiner first claimed that his Twitter account was hacked after he was asked about some troubling Tweets being sent from his account. However, when he declined to ask that the proper authorities investigate the matter I knew he was not being completely honest about the situation. When I appeared on MSNBC to discuss the crisis I didn't want to accuse a member of Congress of lying so I only alluded to the troubling nature of the alleged claims by Weiner.
Until Weiner's social media usage became news, his political star was extremely bright. Since leaving Congress, he has worked to rehabilitate his personal life and career. While he may have learned some hard (no pun intended) lessons about social media, it appears that his staff needs some education on how to properly post video online to ensure it doesn't become a news story.
In general, politicians seem to be able to rebound from sex scandals and handsome profitably. Time will tell if Weiner is added to the list. Regardless of the outcome of the election, it will be interesting to see how Weiner handles all of the questions related to his past social media endeavors.
To learn more about these issues you may contact me at www.shearlaw.com.
Copyright 2013 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC. All rights reserved.
In 2011, Weiner first claimed that his Twitter account was hacked after he was asked about some troubling Tweets being sent from his account. However, when he declined to ask that the proper authorities investigate the matter I knew he was not being completely honest about the situation. When I appeared on MSNBC to discuss the crisis I didn't want to accuse a member of Congress of lying so I only alluded to the troubling nature of the alleged claims by Weiner.
Until Weiner's social media usage became news, his political star was extremely bright. Since leaving Congress, he has worked to rehabilitate his personal life and career. While he may have learned some hard (no pun intended) lessons about social media, it appears that his staff needs some education on how to properly post video online to ensure it doesn't become a news story.
In general, politicians seem to be able to rebound from sex scandals and handsome profitably. Time will tell if Weiner is added to the list. Regardless of the outcome of the election, it will be interesting to see how Weiner handles all of the questions related to his past social media endeavors.
To learn more about these issues you may contact me at www.shearlaw.com.
Copyright 2013 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC. All rights reserved.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
FTC Complaint Filed Against Snapchat
Consumer privacy advocate EPIC has recently filed an FTC complaint against Snapchat because it believes the service is misleading consumers regarding its ability to delete the content being sent across its platform. According to multiple published reports, Snapchat may not be permanently deleting the content being sent through its service despite its claims.
Snapchat's promise that content would "self-destruct" after it is viewed may remind some people of Mission Impossible's self-destruct messaging system. Self destruct messages are ideal for some content that is sent online. Due to the constant barrage of media coverage regarding sexting scandals, an app that actually deletes content once it is viewed may be very profitable for a company.
Unless Snapchat is able to quickly fix its alleged inability to permanently delete the content it claims it is able to delete it may have significant legal liability. It may only be a matter of time before a user is damaged because content it thought was deleted was not.
To learn more about these issues you may contact me at www.shearlaw.com.
Copyright 2013 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC. All rights reserved.
Snapchat's promise that content would "self-destruct" after it is viewed may remind some people of Mission Impossible's self-destruct messaging system. Self destruct messages are ideal for some content that is sent online. Due to the constant barrage of media coverage regarding sexting scandals, an app that actually deletes content once it is viewed may be very profitable for a company.
Unless Snapchat is able to quickly fix its alleged inability to permanently delete the content it claims it is able to delete it may have significant legal liability. It may only be a matter of time before a user is damaged because content it thought was deleted was not.
To learn more about these issues you may contact me at www.shearlaw.com.
Copyright 2013 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC. All rights reserved.
Friday, May 10, 2013
The Application Privacy, Protection and Security Act of 2013
Congress has recently introduced the Application Privacy, Protection and Security Act of 2013 (HR1913). This legislation would require mobile application developers to disclose what data they
collect and how they utilize, share, and archive the data they capture.
In January, 2013, the California Attorney General's office issued a privacy report on the mobile apps ecosystem. Subsequently, on February 1, 2013, an FTC report recommended ways for mobile app developers to improve privacy disclosures. At that time, the FTC stated that app developers should:
To learn more about these issues you may contact me at www.shearlaw.com.
Copyright 2013 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC. All rights reserved.
In January, 2013, the California Attorney General's office issued a privacy report on the mobile apps ecosystem. Subsequently, on February 1, 2013, an FTC report recommended ways for mobile app developers to improve privacy disclosures. At that time, the FTC stated that app developers should:
- Have a privacy policy and make sure it is easily accessible through the app stores;
- Provide just-in-time disclosures and obtain affirmative express consent before collecting and sharing sensitive information (to the extent the platforms have not already provided such disclosures and obtained such consent);
- Improve coordination and communication with ad networks and other third parties that provide services for apps, such as analytics companies, so the app developers can better understand the software they are using and, in turn, provide accurate disclosures to consumers.
To learn more about these issues you may contact me at www.shearlaw.com.
Copyright 2013 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC. All rights reserved.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
New Mexico Bans NCAA Student-Athlete Social Media Monitoring Firms
New Mexico recently joined Delaware, California, New Jersey, Michigan, Arkansas, and Utah in protecting their schools, school employees, students, and taxpayers from the potential costs and legal liability issues associated with social media monitoring students. Under New Mexico SB 422, it is unlawful "to demand access in any manner to a student's, applicant's or potential applicant's account or profile on a social networking web site."
The enactment of SB 422 will greatly benefit schools, school employees, students, and taxpayers because collectively post-secondary schools in New Mexico may save millions of dollars in potential compliance costs and tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in potential costs associated with social media related lawsuits. SB 422 along with similar laws around the country appear to negatively affect the following companies that offer social media monitoring services: UDiligence, Varsity Monitor, Fieldhouse Media, and Jump Forward.
It appears that the only way for the above mentioned social media monitoring services to properly function is if a student either downloads an application onto his personal account(s), provides a username(s) and/or password(s) to his personal account(s), or if a student authenticates his social media account(s). These services may claim that all they need to properly work is a student's name or alias to search for a public social media account. However, performing an Internet search and guessing that an account belongs to a particular student just because it is on the Internet may put you in the same position as one of the people portrayed in this hilarious State Farm Commercial. According to CNN, as of last August, Facebook may have at least 83 million fake accounts and according to PRWeek, Twitter may have as many as 20 million fake accounts.
Any company that approaches schools to sell social media monitoring services to track students' personal digital accounts is selling a legal liability time bomb. If a school is monitoring the personal social media content of their students and misses an indication that there may be a crime committed it may cost the school more than $100 million dollars. For proof, just review the Penn State emails regarding the Jerry Sandusky matter. Does a school want to be on the hook for tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in legal liability because it was utilizing a social media monitoring service to track their students personal digital accounts?
To learn more about these issues you may contact me at www.shearlaw.com.
Copyright 2013 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC All rights reserved.
The enactment of SB 422 will greatly benefit schools, school employees, students, and taxpayers because collectively post-secondary schools in New Mexico may save millions of dollars in potential compliance costs and tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in potential costs associated with social media related lawsuits. SB 422 along with similar laws around the country appear to negatively affect the following companies that offer social media monitoring services: UDiligence, Varsity Monitor, Fieldhouse Media, and Jump Forward.
It appears that the only way for the above mentioned social media monitoring services to properly function is if a student either downloads an application onto his personal account(s), provides a username(s) and/or password(s) to his personal account(s), or if a student authenticates his social media account(s). These services may claim that all they need to properly work is a student's name or alias to search for a public social media account. However, performing an Internet search and guessing that an account belongs to a particular student just because it is on the Internet may put you in the same position as one of the people portrayed in this hilarious State Farm Commercial. According to CNN, as of last August, Facebook may have at least 83 million fake accounts and according to PRWeek, Twitter may have as many as 20 million fake accounts.
Any company that approaches schools to sell social media monitoring services to track students' personal digital accounts is selling a legal liability time bomb. If a school is monitoring the personal social media content of their students and misses an indication that there may be a crime committed it may cost the school more than $100 million dollars. For proof, just review the Penn State emails regarding the Jerry Sandusky matter. Does a school want to be on the hook for tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in legal liability because it was utilizing a social media monitoring service to track their students personal digital accounts?
To learn more about these issues you may contact me at www.shearlaw.com.
Copyright 2013 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC All rights reserved.