Information Law RSS Feed

The Top 7 Ways Employees' Use of Social Media Can Burn Your Company

Dan Pepper — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:33:58 EST

Chances are, your employees are using social media right now. There’s also a good chance that they’re talking about your company, its products or services. As a business owner, president, HR professional, or in-house counsel, here are the top 7 issues you need to consider to address your employees’ use of social media and how it impacts your company:

1. Trade Secrets are gone forever with a single click. Even harmless or inadvertent statements or posts can give away your company's trade secrets or confidential business plans. It is vital that you educate employees about identifying what is confidential information, the impact it can have on your company, and how to safeguard it properly.

For example, you should make sure employees know it's improper to post prematurely - on personal or work websites - about product launches or other sensitive information.

You can read the full store at Information Law The Top 7 Ways Employees' Use of Social Media Can Burn Your Company

So you thought you owned your LinkedIn account? Maybe not.

Dan Pepper — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 10:29:00 EST

A very interesting court decision just came from the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and is important for anyone who uses LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, or other social media as part of their employment.

The case is Eagle v. Morgan, et al., Civil Action No. 11-4303 (E.D.Pa. December 22, 2011), and the general facts will be familiar to anyone with a passing interest in the legal posturing that occurs when a valued employee, particularly a former owner, leaves a long-time employer. Plaintiff Linda Eagle ("Eagle") founded and operated a financial services and training company for over twenty years. She and her partners sold the company, Edcomm, Inc., in October 2010, but remained on as employees until June 2011, when they were fired by the new owner, Sawabah Information Services Company.

While she owned Edcomm, and later as its employee, Eagle had established a LinkedIn account, which she maintained with the help of her administrative assistant. When Eagle attempted to

You can read the full store at Information Law So you thought you owned your LinkedIn account? Maybe not.

Sales Tax To Be Charged On ALL Internet Purchases In Pennsylvania

Andy Baharlias — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 11:44:47 EST

This past December 1, the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue (“D-REV”) officially challenged the notion of tax free shopping on the internet with the issuance of Sales and Use Tax Bulletin 2011-01 which provides that remote online retailers are expected to collect sales tax on Internet sales to Pennsylvania residents.

Although this is not an “Amazon Law”, which places internet vendors in the same position as regular brick and mortar stores with respect to charging, collecting and remiting sales tax to the Commonwealth on purchases to residents of Pennsylvania, the bulletin clarifies existing rules and regulations so as to incorporate the intent of Amazon Laws without dealing with Pennsylvania’s current General Assembly or Governor’s office, both controlled by the Republican party, whic

You can read the full store at Information Law Sales Tax To Be Charged On ALL Internet Purchases In Pennsylvania

Video game maker scores First Amendment win in right of publicity case

Dan Pepper — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 09:56:40 EST

The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey granted summary judgment to Electronic Arts, Inc. (“EA”), finding its use of a former football player’s likeness in its annual NCAA Football video games was fully protected noncommercial speech.

EA publishes a video-game permitting users to manipulate the actions of college football teams with virtual players in a virtual world of simulated games. The football teams are identifiable by name, and the uniform designs, logos, and stadium fight songs are all licensed from the NCAA. The virtual players, on the other hand, are identified only by jersey number and position. Ryan Hart, a former college football player for Rutgers—a team depicted in the video games—alleged that the depiction of a player avatar bearing his former number and position violated his right of publicity under New Jersey law. EA responded that the videogame is expressive work protected by the First Amend

You can read the full store at Information Law Video game maker scores First Amendment win in right of publicity case

Actress Sues Amazon.com for $1M for Revealing her Age

Dan Pepper — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:48:06 EST

An anonymous actress has sued Amazon, claiming that the company's Internet Movie Database (IMDb.com) published her age without her consent.

The anonymous Texan actress, alleges that most people consider it common knowledge that the older the actress, the less likely she will be able to become a breakout star. She said she signed up for a paid version of the listing website, called IMDb Pro, in 2008. After signing up for the service, her listing on the site allegedly was updated with her true age -- which, she says, is “many years older than she looks.”

She claims that she keeps her age strictly confidential, and that IMDb.com could only have discovered her real age by using her credit card information to scour public records for data about

You can read the full store at Information Law Actress Sues Amazon.com for $1M for Revealing her Age

You've Probably Violated LinkedIn's Terms of Service

Dan Pepper — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 14:58:23 EST

Have you ever invited people you don't know to join your network on LinkedIn?

Believe it or not, you've just violated LinkedIn's terms of service, which was recently updated on June 16, 2011.

Section 10 B “Don’t Undertake the following” includes "Invite people you do not know to join your network."

Violation of LinkedIn's Terms of Service includes termination of your membership, so you better make certain you know exactly who you're inviting!

You can read the full store at Information Law You've Probably Violated LinkedIn's Terms of Service

Reputation Management: Dealing with negative online postings

Dan Pepper — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 16:16:48 EST

Consider this: You are a successful physician with a distinguished career as an expert in a specialty field of medicine requiring a total of twelve years of niche training. You’ve gone on to build a practice that thrives, providing quality, expert care to dozens of critically injured individuals requiring top notch, medical expertise.

Suddenly, several anonymous and defamatory postings display within Google, damaging both your ability to receive referrals from other treating physicians, and maintaining the confidence of new physician referrals, resulting on both a loss of revenue and several personal angst and suffering. Further, you are unable to respond to the negative postings because of the HIPAA restrictions in place to protect patient confidentiality, despite the fact that the postings are alleged to be false. You send email to the websites containing the negative postings, but they go unanswered.

Unfortunately, this is a far too-c

You can read the full store at Information Law Reputation Management: Dealing with negative online postings

How Many Refrigerators Are You Running In Your House? Youd Be Surprised!

Andy Baharlias — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 14:43:59 EST

This past Independence Day, the New York Times published an editorial describing the $3 billion dollar energy drain on the U.S. consumer economy by cable boxes and DVR’s which are always on, yet are only utilized approximately 33% of the time.

Cable boxes and digital video recorders are not currently part of the Energy Star program. Once Energy Star was initiated for most large household appliances, manufacturers diligently reduced power consumption and the result was items like refrigerators running to the same specifications as prior to Energy Star, yet utilizing only a fraction of the power they previously consumed.

The New York Times editorial linked to a study by the Natural Resources Defense Council and as a Public Service Announcement to o

You can read the full store at Information Law How Many Refrigerators Are You Running In Your House? Youd Be Surprised!

Seven reminders from the FTC for CAN-SPAM Act Compliance

Dan Pepper — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 11:28:28 EST

The FTC has put together this handy video outlining seven simple things to remember about complying with the CAN-SPAM Act:

Seven reminders from the FTC for CAN-SPAM Act Compliance

Streaming Video? You Better Get to Know the VPAA

Andy Baharlias — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 15:29:17 EST

If you operate a website that streams video, chances are you’re not familiar with the Video Privacy and Protection Act of 1988, 18 U.S.C. §2710 (VPPA). Recently there has been a series of lawsuits alleging violations of the VPPA involving how website operators store user programming history.

The VPPA, which was quickly drafted and swiftly passed after Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork’s video rental history was published during his confirmation hearing, generally prohibits the disclosure of "personally identifiable information" regarding consumers' rental or purchase of video materials. The VPPA also creates an affirmative obligation to destroy "personally identifiable information" as soon as practicable.

As a note of historical clarification and of significance in the history of the VPPA, Bork&rsquo

You can read the full store at Information Law Streaming Video? You Better Get to Know the VPAA

It Took Over A Decade, But The IRS Just Found Your PayPal Account

Andy Baharlias — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 16:59:33 EST

With so many of our clients utilizing PayPal as a means of making and receiving payments, we believe the following information is potentially critical to you from the standpoint of compliance with laws and strategic planning of your financial operations.

Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 6050W is new legislation that will require PayPal, Amazon.com, and other financial firms that process credit or debit card payments for very small businesses to report to the IRS the total payment volume received by their customers in the USA who:

Receive more than $20,000 in gross payment volume from sales of goods or services in a single year

-AND-

Receive over 200 pay
You can read the full store at Information Law It Took Over A Decade, But The IRS Just Found Your PayPal Account

FTC imposes largest civil penalty ever for violation of Childrens Online Privacy Protection Act

Dan Pepper — Wed, 18 May 2011 17:57:34 EST

The FTC continues its enforcement activities against businesses that don't comply with their own website privacy policies.

The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) details what a website operator must include in a privacy policy, when and how to seek verifiable consent from a parent or guardian, and what responsibilities an operator has to protect children's privacy and safety online including restrictions on the marketing to those under 13.

Amidst allegations that a major online game developer – a subsidiary of Disney Enterprises, Inc. – illegally collected and disclosed personal information from hundreds of thousands of children under age 13, the FTC yesterday released a consent judgment ag

You can read the full store at Information Law FTC imposes largest civil penalty ever for violation of Childrens Online Privacy Protection Act

The Top Issue For Website Owners? It's Not What You Think

Dan Pepper — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 16:52:16 EST

With all of the numerous issues t

You can read the full store at Information Law The Top Issue For Website Owners? It's Not What You Think

Yes, your website privacy policy really does matter

Dan Pepper — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 09:25:27 EST

We find that many website operators that collect information from their users treat their privacy policies as an afterthought. Based on a number of recent actions from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), that would be a mistake.