NFL Draft Social Media Lessons For NCAA Schools & Student-Athletes

The 2016 NFL draft demonstrated why people need to become more educated about social media, digital privacy, reputation, and the law. Since starting this blog in 2009, I have been warning the public about the dangers associated with digital technologies and social media and how to protect yourself from becoming a star in a viral social media pr crisis.

Several minutes before the NFL draft started on Thursday, a video was posted on NFL prospect Laremy Tunsil's personal Twitter account that allegedly showed him wearing a gas mask and taking bong hits.  

While Mr. Tunsil is not the first college student who has admitted to trying drugs or drinking too much (i.e. President's Clinton, Bush, and Obama), he is the first to have had this information go viral right before he was expected to be drafted and earn millions of dollars.

This video allegedly cost Tunsil approximately $13 million dollars in salary and his agent $390,000 in fees.  It may have even destroyed Tunsil's marketability as a celebrity spokes person which could have earned him millions more and his agents hundreds of thousands of dollars in commission. This matter will go down as one of the most expensive digital mistake's on record.

This wasn't the only digital evidence of Mr. Tunsil's activities in college.  A short time after the bong video was posted, a text message exchange appeared on Mr. Tunsil's personal Instagram account that appears to demonstrate that his college program (University of Mississippi) was paying for some of his personal expenses which is an NCAA violation.

    

This post may lead to an NCAA investigation which could cost the University of Mississippi tens of millions of dollars.  Ole Miss may be forced to forfeit games Tunsil appeared in, lose scholarships, become ineligible for future bowl games, etc... Additionally, sponsorship revenue may decrease, and the university may be forced to spend millions in legal fees and compliance costs to investigate and defend their actions. Coaches and athletic administrators may also be fired because of this evidence.

Tunsil was obviously targeted because the hacker(s) acquired the digital evidence and struck at the most opportune time to inflict serious damage to his reputation.While it appears that multiple state and federal laws were violated, until the matter is fully investigated it is too early to determine what criminal and/or civil action may be taken.  

These types of issues will only increase in the future.  As I told The New York Times, "Its very challenging with these computer crimes because people can hide their tracks... Even if you find the person who hacked, can you even collect on the judgment?"

The bottom line is that education is the best way to protect against becoming a victim. When a crisis like this occurs, it is imperative to understand how to properly respond to ensure that your organization has its legal and pr ducks in a row to limit any damage to your reputation.  

Copyright 2016 by Bradley S. Shear, Esq. All rights reserved. 

Social Media Evidence May Determine Who Shot Down Malaysian Plane

It appears that a Malaysian passenger jet may have been mistakenly shot down in the skies above territory that is in dispute between Ukraine and Russia.  USA Today is reporting that rebels who may be backed by Russia may have arms capable of downing a passenger jet that is flying 20,000+ feet in the sky.

Photos of the tragedy have appeared online and it leads me to believe that the crash site may become contaminated. In this hyper-sensitive and viral world everything posted online about this tragedy is put under a microscope.  For example, American Pie actor Jason Biggs Tweet “Anyone wanna buy my Malaysian Airlines frequent flier miles?” was deemed so offensive by the Internet community that he ended up issuing an apology after it went viral. 

Entertainers and politicians do not have a monopoly on regretting their online posts.  According to AFP, it appears that some Pro-Russian insurgents may also have itchy social media fingers because some of their online postings boasting about downing an airplane around the same time/place that the Malaysian jet went down have now been deleted.  Since the crash site may become contaminated will social media become crucial evidence in determining who shot down the Malaysian passenger jet? 

Copyright 2014 by Shear Law, LLC.  All rights reserved.

Social Media Posts Lead To Firing of TV and Radio Personalities

Last month, Travel Channel personality Adam Richman made some very disturbing posts that led to his upcoming new show being postponed indefinitely.  Talk show host Anthony Cumia of Sirius was fired from his radio show last week for a series of allegedly racists Tweets.  Both of these incidents occurred "off the air" during personal time but they had negative employment consequences.

Social Media is not the panacea that some business consultants claim.  Too many self styled "social media consultants" advise their clients to pump out content on multiple platforms 24/7.  On a regular basis, clients ask me about the legal, business, and reputation related issues surrounding disturbing social media posts.  Unfortunately, I am usually contacted after a "social media consultant" has already provided career killing advice or inadequate training.

If one feels the need to respond to Tweets (or other types of posts) or get into a Facebook discussion with others, the amount of information/content posted should be limited since it may be utilized against you forever.  Yes, forever!  Any postings may be submitted as evidence in a court of law or may be used in the court of public opinion to destroy your career so less is usually more.  I have never had a client tell me he or she regretted not Tweeting more or posting a longer Facebook response.

Copyright 2014 by Shear Law, LLC.  All rights reserved.

Real Madrid Facebook Fans Are Being Targeted By Phishers

According to multiple media organizations, malware is spreading all over sports branded Facebook pages.  Fans Against Kounterfeit Enterprises has uncovered a Trojan Horse that is spreading across NFL branded pages on Facebook.  The New York Times has stated that this malware may drain Facebook users' bank accounts.

These malware attacks are not just targeting U.S. sports properties.  According to Symantec, phishers are now going after Real Madrid's branded Facebook page.  This demonstrates that there may be a coordinated attack against sports fans who visit the social media pages of major sports and entertainment properties.

The bottom line is that Facebook along with sports and entertainment properties must be very vigilant in policing their digital properties.  Sports social media enthusiasts who visit Facebook and interact with sports branded pages must be very cautious so their computers are not infected and bank accounts drained.

Copyright 2013 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC.  All rights reserved.    

Oregon Bans Schools From Engaging Social Media Monitoring Firms To Track Students and Coaches

Oregon has officially joined Delaware, California, New Jersey, Michigan, Arkansas, Utah, and New Mexico in protecting their schools, school employees, students, and taxpayers from the costs and legal liability issues associated with social media monitoring students and employees.  Under Oregon SB 344:

"A public or private educational institution may not: (a) Require, request, suggest or cause a student or prospective student to disclose or to provide access through the student's or prospective student's user name or password to a personal social media account. (b) Compel a student or prospective student, as a condition of participation in curricular or extracurricular activities or of acceptance, to add a coach, teacher, administrator or other employee or volunteer of the educational institution to the student's or prospective student's list of contacts associated with a social media website. (c) Take, or threaten to take, any action to discharge, discipline, prohibit from participation in curricular or extracurricular activities or otherwise penalize a student or potential student for refusal to disclose the information or take actions specified in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subsection."

The enactment of SB 344 will greatly benefit schools, school employees, students, and taxpayers because collectively public and private educational institutions in Oregon 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 344 along with similar laws around the country have banned schools from being able to utilize the social media monitoring services of UDiligence, Varsity Monitor, Fieldhouse Media, and Jump Forward to track the personal social media accounts of students and school employees.

It appears that the only way for the above mentioned social media monitoring services to properly track students or school employees is if a student or employee either downloads an application onto his personal digital account(s), or 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.

At least 36 states have introduced social media privacy legislation along with Congress.  It may only be a matter time before every state bans schools from utilizing the social media monitoring services of the above mentioned companies.

Copyright 2013 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC All rights reserved.