Coping with Socially Networked Jurors
October 27, 2010
At the office, in the car or anywhere else, we share every detail of our daily existence in real time on Facebook. Most of the time, this is acceptable and constitutionally protected behavior. But what happens in the courtroom when jurors post their opinions about a case online during trial?
Who Is Dealing With Social Media Policies?
October 27, 2010
Survey results show that 38% of the 1,700 respondents didn't know who was dealing with social media in their company. The remaining answers were spread across human resources, compliance, marketing, and, at the bottom of the list, the legal department. And while 84% say companies should have policies in place to address social media risks, only 35% say they do have them. But the risks of social media ' legal and reputational ' are real, and companies need to deal with them.
How Private Is Facebook Under the SCA?
October 27, 2010
Despite huge technological advancements in the 25 years since passage of the SCA, and the ever-increasing prominence of electronic communication in our society, Congress has not amended the SCA to keep pace with changing technology. Rather, courts have had to lead the charge in applying the decades-old statute to modern Internet technology and electronic communication disclosure issues.
Unmasking Anonymous Online Defamation
October 27, 2010
The explosion of "Web 2.0" phenomena has brought with it a deluge of published material that is arguably defamatory or otherwise actionable. While some actually welcome this development ' preferring the Web to be, and remain, "a frontier society free from the conventions and constraints that limit discourse in the real world" ' many others do not, especially those worried about the potential impact of disparaging online material on their corporate reputation. But many of those troubled by the threat to corporate reputation from defamatory online content also have discovered that mitigating its effect, or getting it removed, is far from easy.
Data Transfers and the EU
October 27, 2010
The last couple of months have seen a number of challenges for U.S. corporations doing business in Europe, particularly those that rely on the Safe Harbor scheme to legalize the transfer of customer or employee data to the U.S.
When Technology Enters the Courtroom
September 30, 2010
In the recent appeal of a jury verdict in a medical malpractice case, the unsuccessful plaintiff challenged a judge's refusal to allow his counsel to conduct Internet searches of potential jurors during <i>voir dire</i>.
