A new law in Maryland will protect employees from having to disclose passwords to employers. The new law is likely to be followed by a similar one in California and Senate has a bill- the Password Protection Act 2012. Thomas Bartlet’s article “Online Privacy Laws Can Cause Discovery Woes, ” looks at why too much information in Discovery is neither helping the system nor individuals.
Edward Wyatt reports on the FTC charging Myspace with privacy violations in his article, “F.T.C. Charges Myspace With Breaking U.S. Law in Sharing Users’ Personal Information.”
US protections for Free Speech may keep Facebook from having to adhere to new EU laws. Dinah Greek looks at how “EU Data Privacy Directive Loophole Affects Social Networking Sites.”
Here is another look at the ramifications of banning the use of social media in California courts. This article looks specifically at why this law was needed, particularly to avoid mistrials and appeals: “Jurors Social Media Use Banned In State Courts.”
The US is not the only jurisdiction focusing on piracy and shutting down piracy sites, and the UK has joined the fray: “Introduce Anti-Piracy Measures Now, Says Shadow Culture Secretary.”
Pinterest is the hot new social networking site that allows users to “pin” pictures in a series of “albums” that they create. Pictures can be taken from one’s own personal library or from anywhere – almost – on the internet. Numerous questions about the copyright legality of this practice have lead to sites like Flickr, Yahoo and Facebook adopting Pinterest’s “kill switch” which disables users ability to pin pictures from those sites. Christopher Mims explores “The Genius of Pinterest’s Copyright Dodge.” And here are three articles on how Flickr is responding:
*David Murphy “Flickr Adopts Pinterest ‘Kill Switch’ to Prevent Photo Sharing.”
*Jennifer Van Grove “Flickr Disables Pinterest Pins on Copyrighted Images.”
*Dylan Love “Flickr Is Fighting Copyright Theft On Pinterest.”
Michael McHugh looks at how much social media and its users are worth in “One Facebook User = Two LinkedIn Users, and Other Things the Stock Market Tells Us.”
The rules for online defamation may be a matter for individual courts to determine according to “Online Defamation: Is it Any Different?” by Steven Price. Like many issues in cyberspace, defamation is still being defined and refined in the online environment.
The 1988 Video Privacy Protection Act is preventing what will no doubt be a very lucrative link between Netflix and Facebook. The law pre-dates today’s internet technology and needs to be updated, but there are still privacy concerns that need to be addressed. Eric Engleman explores the issues in “Netflix-Facebook Link Stalls as Bork Law Unchanged.”
Here are two more cautionary tales about mixing social media, specifically Facebook, with your legal career. Tom Gantert writes that Michigan’s “State Bar Urges Caution with Social Media, ” and the Kentucky Law Review also reports on a timely case: “Facebook Spoliation Costs [Virginia] Lawyer $522, 000; Ends His Legal Career.”