Social network

Facebook’s Law Department is Ready to Brawl over Requests for Information from a User’s Facebook Account

by Fred Abramson on February 2, 2010 · 5 comments

Image representing Facebook as depicted in Cru...
Image via CrunchBase

What privacy rights do you have on social networks? Nearly everyday, civil litigators like myself and law enforcement officials request information from Facebook regarding user information.  Understandably, Facebook has been very difficult in responding to such requests, believing that users have a right to privacy concerning its users information. But how much right should users of social networks have over information that is of public record?

Many social networking sites have taken the position that they will not respond to requests for information without a subpoena.  This is a problem because users cannot obtain access to their accounts even if their account has been hacked.

This is especially problematic when it comes to the problem of cyber bullying. I have been trying to obtain records from Facebook for a client whose child whose account has been hacked by a cyber bully.  Facebook has been unwilling to provide information to me about my clients own account.

According to Law.com, the Deputy General Counsel of Facebook, Mark Howitson told lawyers at the Legal Tech Conference in New York today that they are ready to fight requests for user  information without a subpoena.

Unfortunately, you can only serve that subpoena in California which is problematic if you live in New York. Even with a subpoena, they will only provide basic subscriber information unless that user gives his or her consent.  The company believes that it does not have to provide user information under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act which was passed before Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, danced to his first disco tune at his bar mitzvah. Since this issue is relatively new, a congressional hearing is forthcoming.

Mr. Howiston suggests that the best way to obtain information from Facebook is to make a simple friend request, which is of little utility.

What do you think?  What right of privacy should you have on social networks?  Should there be a cyber bullying exception?

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Why your Social Networking Policy Should Address Collaboration

by Fred Abramson on November 16, 2009 · 6 comments

Pagina dell'applicazione "Twitter" p...
Image by notoriousxl via Flickr

I have a friend who is an accountant at a small firm. Lets call him Cliff.  Cliff greets everyone with a compliment and is an ace accountant.  Cliff surfs the internet at work.  Cliff was recently on Twitter,  looking for people to follow.  He becomes Twitter “friends” with Samantha, an accountant at Hobes and Hobes, a rival firm.  From the looks of Samantha’s avatar, she is attractive.

Samantha asks Cliff to meet him at a bar after work. After a few dirty martinis, Cliff tells Samantha that his accounting firm is about to land Giggle, a big, funny internet company. Samantha buys the next round and that was the last thing he remembers.  He wakes up the next morning and finds out that Hobes and Hobes has landed the Giggle account.

Does your company block access to social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin because you are afraid of employees like Cliff? Is the work environment at your workplace hostile to employees who blog? If so, your company is part of the majority of organizations that have a restrictive social networking policy.

While a strict social networking policy is a simple way of limiting legal liability, do you really think that your company can compete in a 24 hour a day workplace with outdated policies? Probably not.  If your company is  struggling with how to integrate social media into the workplace, one way to focus is by creating a social media policy with an eye toward collaboration.

The Harvard Business Review observes that businesses are discovering that an über-connected work environment is not just about implementing a new set of tools — it is also about embracing a cultural shift to create an open environment where employees are encouraged to share, innovate and collaborate virtually.   Some benefits of a hyper-social company include:

  • Access to social media improves productivity;
  • Millennials will seek jobs that encourage the use of social media;
  • Companies that provide access to social media create a more engaged workforce.

After creating your hyper-social networking policy, it is then vital to address its legal implications, which I addressed previously in Legal Reasons Why Your Company Should Have a Social Networking Policy.

CONCLUSION

Employees are online whether you like it or not.  By simply banning the use of social networking sites on company computers, your employees will simply use smartphones to stay connected. By thinking expansively about social media, more specifically about using it for increased productivity and collaboration, there is great opportunity for growth.  Have your ideas written in the form of a social media policy, which will put your employees on notice of any potential legal problems. By the way, Cliff is not real. But he could be and you can be responsible for Cliff’s actions without a written social networking policy.

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Subpoena information for Facebook & Myspace

by Fred Abramson on October 6, 2009 · 4 comments

Listed below is subpoena information for Facebook and MySpace.

Facebook Online Service Address:

156 University Avenue
Palo Alto, California 94301
Phone Number:  650-543-4800
Fax Number:  650-644-3229
E-mail Address: subpoena@facebook. com

MySpace Online Service Address:
407 N. Maple Drive
Beverly Hills, California 90210
USA
Phone Number:  888-309-1311
Fax Number:  310-356-3485
E-mail Address: lawenforcement@myspace-inc. com

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Best Law, Business and Legal Marketing reads for the week

by Fred Abramson on June 5, 2009 · 1 comment

Article of the Week:

10% of Twitter users account for 90% of tweets: http://tr.im/n54w

The latest Law Reads:

@Turkewitz Did Sotomayor Violate NY Ethics Rules in Private Solo Practice with “& Associates” Name? http://bit.ly/eF4jU

@VBalasubramani blogged: “Tony La Russa’s Legal Claims Against Twitter Look Tenuous” http://bit.ly/eDcSe

Social networks increasingly leading to questionable firings http://twurl.nl/w1kyhn

Facebook Friend Earns Judge a Reprimand http://bit.ly/3XUE7a

Small Businesses Take Tentative Steps Toward Online Networking http://bit.ly/2KVVF (via NYT)

6 tips for landing big customers http://bit.ly/fvJsr

@jowyang In the age of Twitter, blog posts start to matter more and more, see this wraup of #TWTRCON http://bit.ly/XKLyA

Google giving small businesses local search data http://bit.ly/yF09I

10 Ways Twitter Will Change Business: http://twurl.nl/7310i5

The Twitter Marketing Debate:

Larry Bodine: Twitter Not Effective for Law Firm Marketing

@barrettdavid: Is Twitter “Effective” for Lawyer Marketing? The “Bodine Debate” – http://twurl.nl/zxg53t

@glambert “Legal Marketing, Statistics and Hard Work” – http://is.gd/N9kT

@nikiblack “Legal Tweets: Kevin O’Keefe on social media for lawyers at the “Get a Life” conference” ( http://bit.ly/RYohc )

@lancegodard My take on esq & twitter hasn’t changed http://bit.ly/17cI6s but ways they use it have: http://snurl.com/j1tea via @jdtwitt


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Legal Reasons Why Your Company Should Have a Social Networking Policy

by Fred Abramson on June 3, 2009 · 3 comments

Your employees are probably participating in social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. But what are your workers doing on Facebook while on the clock? Are they networking or are they sharing their 5 favorite beers? On the one hand, you want to trust your employees and make them feel like they have autonomy to perform their work duties. On the other hand, you are paying them to work and you want them to present themselves professionally.

Recently, staffers of The Wall Street Journal were provided a compiled list of rules for “professional conduct” which regulates online behavior. Should your company follow the lead of the Wall Street Journal and draft a written social networking policy advising what your employees can post while working at the office? If you would like to limit potential company liability to lawsuits, the answer is yes. Here are 5 reasons why:

1. A written social networking policy may shield your Company from defamation lawsuits. What happens if your employee starts posting on Facebook untrue statements about a competitor? Without a written social networking policy, your Company could be sued for defamation.

2. Potential disclosure of Company proprietary information. Let’s say that your business has created the next killer app that will be ready to launch in 3 months. By having a non-disclosure section written into your social networking policy, your employee would be on notice and could be held liable for posting on LinkedIn such information.

3. Your business’s social networking use policy should encourage positive and constructive use of the social networking sites, as well as to prevent the use of such sites for personal or inappropriate reasons. You could be held liable for anything that your employees say of a personal nature on social networking sites.

4. Potential use in litigation. Information disseminated by your employees on social networking sites can be uncovered by a potential adversary and used against your company in litigation. Therefore, you should be clear about the type of topics that can be discussed on social networking sites.

5. Intellectual Property. Trademark and Copyright laws extend to what your post on social networking sites. Your social networking policy should make clear that your employees should refrain from posting trademarked or copyrighted material while representing the company.
So, your Company should regulate social networking use in a more expanded way than the way you regulate other Internet use. By being upfront about the potential problems of social networking, you could help both you and your employees successfully utilize this tool and avoid unwanted lawsuits.

Further Resource:

Online database of social networking policies.

Contact the Law Office of Frederic R. Abramson at 212-233-0666 for more information about social networking policies.

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