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With changes to how the law regulates the interaction of employees and employers over social media use, it is more important now than ever to have clear social media guidelines in place. Those in the hotel industry may face unique challenges in this area. For instance, hosting celebrities can be great for business, but celebrities are inclined to value their privacy. Samantha Worgull’s article “Social Media Policy Key to Mitigate Liability” looks at the issues facing the hotel industry in using social media.

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Here’s a breaking story about Linn, a Norwegian woman, whose Kindle account was recently wiped by Amazon for no apparent reason. At least, to date according to the article, Amazon has not provided a satisfactory answer for their actions. Many are seeing this as an abuse of DRM (digital rights management). Mark King’s article “Amazon Wipes Customer’s Kindle and Deletes Account With No Explanation” provides more information on the incident. However, the information that is forthcoming may indicate that Amazon is attempting to prevent copyright problems due to customers buying books under false pretenses in one country to use in another. The global nature of internet commerce makes navigating the legal issues problematic.

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Twitter temporarily suspended the account of a British politician for tweeting the address of two men. Nick Griffin, a member of the British National Party, has been criticized for his open hostility to a number of groups, in this case a gay couple who had recently won a court case. Twitter only suspended the account temporarily and only removed the tweet that contained the address of the couple, so it appears the social media site continues to be a supporter of free speech. Posting an actual address or telephone number is against Twitter’s rules: “Privacy: You may not publish or post other people’s private and confidential information, such as credit card numbers, street address or Social Security/National Identity numbers, without their express authorization and permission.” It’s also against the rules to publish threats to others. The full list of Twitter rules can be found here. For more on the story about Nick Griffin, read “Twitter Suspends Account Briefly After UK Pol Attacks Gay Couple” by Lance Whitney

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Everything old is new again on social media. Human resources departments need to take a close look at their harassment and discrimination policies in relation to the use of social media. Tom Starner provides an in-depth look at these issues here.

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There may still be loopholes for private employers to institute social media policies that limit their employees’ right to freedom of speech. Koch Industries current social media policy raises a number of questions about what a private company can or can’t do legally. Brendan Fischer’s article “Koch Social Media Policy May Be Unlawful; Employers Still Have Broad Leeway to Limit Employee Speech” points out several disturbing developments.

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As a follow up on our previous story on the Cybercrime Prevention Act, here, the Supreme Court of the Phillipines has suspended the law. Concern was raised over provisions in the law which would have seen the possibility of imprisonment for those expressing peaceful opinions on the internet through social media. Floyd Whaley’s report, “Philippine Court Suspends Contentious Internet Law”, appeared in The New York Times online edition.

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Social media is posing problems for ensuring fair trials in other countries. Currently, Australia has formed a working group to study the issue. The group was formed after some Facebook pages caused concern over an on-going trial. Jane Lee and Dan Oakes examine the issue in “States to Tackle Social Media Laws After Alarm Over Fair Trial for Accused.”

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The Cybercrime Prevention Act may have far reaching negative effects on free speech on social media networks. While the new law is meant to be “a measure against hacking, identity theft, spamming, cybersex and online child pornography”, there are fears that it will be used in libel cases which are a criminal offense in the Philippines. For the full story read, “Media Groups, Filipinos Protest Tough Cyber Law”  by Hrvoje Hranjski.

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While states are busy passing legislation to protect your passwords from employers and schools, Americans still have little in the way of guaranteed privacy on social media sites. The police can rely on a 1986 law that was extended to the internet by the Patriot Act to conduct surveillance on social media sites without a warrant. Declan McCullagh provides more details in his article “Feds Snoop on Social-Network Accounts Without Warrants.”

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This is a subject that most people don’t want to contemplate, but it’s definitely something you should be thinking about. Who controls your posts on Facebook and Twitter after you die? As of right now, it is the social media site itself. The sites are the ones who set the policy, but a push for new federal regulations may change that. This could be an issue of particular concern when it comes to issues of intellectual property. What about any material that might be copyrighted? It’s not just a matter of personal information that may be stored online; there may also be valuable intellectual property stored there. ScienceDaily’s article “Federal Law Needed to Safeguard ‘Digital Afterlives’, Expert Argues” draws on the article “Facebook’s Afterlife” by Jason Mazzone.

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