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Social Media Permeate the Employment Life Cycle

National Law Journal:  “Employers must address their use and misuse before, during and after an employee’s tenure.  Social media are any type of Internet-based media created through social interaction in which ­individuals primarily produce, rather than consume, the content. In the workplace, the prevalent social media are video-sharing Web sites (YouTube), social ­networking [...]

Class Action Target Sues Law Firm for Defamation

Law.com:  “Soon after filing a class action last spring against the maker of a dietary supplement called Procera AVH, Thomas Clarke Jr., a partner in the San Francisco office of Ropers, Majeski, Kohn & Bentley, uploaded a video on YouTube about the class action and talked to a television reporter for a news [...]

Social Networking and the New Workplace

Social networking is here to stay, but its use may have legal consequences for employers and employees.  This article discusses social networking in the workplace, including guidelines that employers should adopt.

Prying Into a Teen’s Private Facebook Pages

Law.com:  “Imagine gaining access to a teenager’s diary.  Confidentiality is violated when an outsider turns the pages.  These days, those personal thoughts are more likely to be documented electronically on social networking sites rather than on paper.  But the same level of confidentiality can exist if someone wants to restrict access to just [...]

Beware of Textual Harassment Liability

Law.com:  “Imagine a supervisor making an inappropriate remark to one of his direct reports in an after-hours conversation.  If he made the comment verbally, and the employee then reported it to the supervisor’s employer, any resulting litigation would have involved the usual ‘he said, she said’ situation, in which lawyers would have challenged [...]

Tennessee Ruling Provides Clarity on Showing Needed to Uncover Identity of Anonymous Blogger in Defamation/Privacy Case

Digital Media Lawyer Blog:  “A Tennessee trial court adopted a version of the ‘heavy’ Dendrite standard for permitting discovery of the identity of the anonymous poster of an allegedly defamatory blog.  However, as interpreted by the trial court, this standard was not insuperable, and resulted in an order that the plaintiffs were entitled [...]

Teens’ MySpace Photos Spur Punishment & Lawsuit

Arizona Republic:  “Two sophomore girls have sued their school district after they were punished for posting sexually suggestive photos on MySpace during their summer vacation.   The American Civil Liberties Union, in a federal lawsuit filed last week on behalf of the girls, argues that Churubusco High School violated the girls’ free speech rights [...]

Employer Social Networking Policies: Pre-Drafting Considerations, Part II

Social Networking and the Law:  Attorney Megan Erickson’s second article in a series of articles that employers should consider when drafting an employee policy dealing with social media.

I discussed some things an employer may want to think about before drafting social networking policies — including some things to keep in mind [...]

Employer Social Networking Policies: Pre-Drafting Considerations & Dangers of Sample Policies

Social Networking and the Law:  “Employers often want to know more about permissible or effective social networking policies for their employees.  Of course, there’s no such thing as a ‘one size fits all’ social media policy for employers, but I think readers might find it helpful if we took some time to address [...]

Fake/Parody Web Sites Create Legal Issues

Law.com:  “Legal disputes over ‘fake’ Web sites and social media profiles seem to be a developing trend.  . . . I have come across two other recent stories involving fake or impersonated Web sites. This post on the Social Networking and the Law blog discusses a lawsuit filed on Sept. 24, 2009 after [...]

Tennessee Court Says Couple Entitled to Unmask Anonymous Blogger

Citizens Media Law Project:  “A Tennessee state court ruled earlier this month that plaintiffs Donald and Terry Keller Swartz are entitled to discover the identity of the anonymous blogger behind the Stop Swartz blog who published critical statements about them and encouraged readers to post information on their whereabouts and activities. In his [...]

Internet Bullying on the Rise

Arizona Republic:  “It’s difficult to quantify the growth of online-bullying cases. Still, law-enforcement agencies worldwide have said they’re seeing an uptick in cyber-harassment cases involving social-networking sites, said Philip Rosenthal, a New York-based computer-crime expert with 20 years of law-enforcement experience.”

Lawyers Warn: Bosses Who ‘Friend’ are Begging to be Sued

The National Law Journal:  “Bosses who ‘friend’ their subordinates on social networking sites may seem warm and harmless, but they’ve got liability risk written all over them. So warn employment lawyers.  Managers sending friend requests to staff via Facebook, Twitter and other sites constitute a growing trend in the workplace. And it’s one [...]

Facebook Not Liable for Private User Groups

Technology & Marketing Law Blog by Eric Goldman:  “This is a really interesting legal dispute with an entirely predictable outcome for Facebook as a defendant. See my initial blog post on the matter. A half-dozen high school students participated in a private Facebook group that ridiculed one of their peers. This wasn’t a [...]

US Spies Buy Stake in Firm that Monitors Blogs & Tweets

Wired.com:  “America’s spy agencies want to read your blog posts, keep track of your Twitter updates — even check out your book reviews on Amazon.  In-Q-Tel, the investment arm of the CIA and the wider intelligence community, is putting cash into Visible Technologies, a software firm that specializes in monitoring social media. It’s [...]

Twitter Jitters: Can What You Tweet About Police Land You in Jail?

Law.com:  “”SWAT teams rolling down 5th Ave. … Report received that police are nabbing anyone that looks like a protester. … Stay alert watch your friends!” Pennsylvania State Police arrested New York social worker Elliot Madison last month for being part of a group that posted messages like those on Twitter. The arrest [...]

Facebook Poke Causes Arrest for Violating an Order of Protection

Law.com:  “A court issued a protective order prohibiting Shannon D. Jackson of Hendersonville, Tenn., from ‘telephoning, contacting or otherwise communicating with’ another Hendersonville woman, either ‘directly or indirectly.’  On Friday, Sept. 25, Jackson was ‘extremely shocked’ when police arrested her for allegedly violating the order.  Authorities in Hendersonville say that Jackson was arrested [...]

Freeze: It’s the Twitter Police!

Wall St. Journal:  “What Eliot Ness was to mobsters and Inspector Clouseau was to fictional jewel thieves, Brendan Wilhide is to Twitter.  Yes, the popular social-networking tool now has an enforcer—public-relations specialist by day, Internet private eye by night.   With more than one-third of the NBA, hundreds of NFL players and scores of [...]

Facebook Sued for Refusing to Remove Content

Citizen Media Law Project:  “Disbarred Florida attorney and critic of the video game industry Jack Thompson, proceeding pro se, filed a complaint against Facebook, Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on September 29, 2009.   The Complaint asserts three counts against Facebook for Intentional Infliction of Emotional [...]

Cyberbullying Bill Gets Chilly Reception

Wired.com: “Proposed legislation demanding up to two years in prison for electronic speech meant to ‘coerce, intimidate, harass or cause substantial emotional distress to a person’ was met with little enthusiasm by a House subcommittee on Wednesday.  Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-California) lobbied fellow lawmakers of a House Judiciary subcommittee to back her proposed [...]

Social Networks and Personal Injury Suits

Times have changed.  We all know the adage “think before your speak.”  In the age of social media we now have “think before you tweet.”  Millions of people are using social media like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter to communicate.  Sometimes, information displayed online can cause the author and/or website owner to become the [...]

Employers, Employees, Social Networks & the Law

Arizona Republic:  Social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and MySpace are great ways to communicate, but the legalities are  uncertain when employers monitor or restrict what employees say about employers online.

Valley attorneys say employers have the right to monitor and restrict employees’ social networking posts related to their business, including [...]

What Are You Doing Legally on Twitter?

Attorneys William Coats and Jennifer Gossain wrote an article called “What Are You Doing Legally on Twitter?” that all Twitter-ers might want to read.   Although Twitter is relatively new to the web, there have been lawsuits filed based on statements made in tweets.  Despite being limited to 140 characters, a single tweet can [...]