Status Updates: AZ’s anti-revenge-porn law scrapped; civil rights claim against blogging prosecutor dismissed; Match buys PlentyOfFish
- There oughta be a law? As we’ve reported previously, states all around the country have enacted laws that criminalize the posting of revenge porn—nude photographs published without the subject’s consent, often by an ex-lover seeking retribution. To avoid running afoul of the First Amendment,... ›
Mobile App Legal Terms & Conditions: Six Key Considerations
By: Anthony M. Ramirez
For corporations, the mobile app is today’s website. Back in the late 1990s, no self-respecting company, no matter how stodgy and old-fashioned, wanted to be without a website. Today, the same is true with mobile apps. It doesn’t matter what industry a company is... ›Employer Access to Employee Social Media: Applicant Screening, “Friend” Requests and Workplace Investigations
By: Melissa M. Crespo
A recent survey of hiring managers and human resource professionals reports that more than 43 percent of employers use social networking sites to research job candidates. This interest in social networking does not end when the candidate is hired: To the contrary, companies are seeking... ›“Never Say Never”: Lessons From RadioShack’s Sale of Customer Information
When a bankrupt company’s most valuable assets include consumer information, a tension arises between bankruptcy policy aimed at maximizing asset value, on the one hand, and privacy laws designed to protect consumers’ personal information, on the other. Such tension played out recently in the... ›Status Updates: Pinterest’s new purchasing feature; Driving while social; and a small country’s Facebook ban
Pin money. The social media site Pinterest, a 5-year-old Internet powerhouse with an $11 billion valuation , is implementing another feature intended to bring in some cash : Buyable Pins. Soon, the site’s users—who, according to demographics reports, are often affluent women—will be able... ›Status Updates: Artist sues Pinterest; texting for teens without data plans; quit smoking with social media
By: Aaron P. Rubin
Pin pain. As a primarily visual social media platform whose self-described purpose is to help users bookmark and save “ good stuff you find anywhere around the web ,” Pinterest has raised copyright infringement questions since it became explosively popular in 2012. In many... ›Toward a Grand Unifying Theory of Today’s Tech Trends
As a technology law blogger and co-editor of Socially Aware , I monitor emerging developments in information technology. What’s hot in IT today? Any shortlist would have to include social media, mobile, wearable technology, the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing and big data.... ›- - Online Promotions, Terms of Use, Labor Law, Copyright, Employment Law, Arbitration, IP, Litigation
Five Social Media Law Issues To Discuss With Your Clients
By: Aaron P. Rubin
The explosive growth of social media has clients facing legal questions that didn’t even exist a few short years ago. Helping your clients navigate this muddled legal landscape will have them clicking “like” in no time. What’s in a Like? Not long ago, the... › The Right to Give One-Star Reviews
By: Aaron P. Rubin
Congress has taken a step toward protecting consumers’ rights to post negative reviews on websites like Ripoff Report or Yelp with the introduction, by Representative Darrell E. Issa of California, of the Consumer Review Freedom Act of 2015 (the CFRA). The CFRA follows a... ›- - SEC
The Guide to Social Media and Securities Law
The growing use of social media has created challenges for federal securities regulators and, given the significance of social media as a preferred method of communication for a large percentage of market participants, the need to adapt Federal securities laws and the regulatory framework... ›