More Legal Issues Seen for Social Media
Cited: Google News
The social media continues to seep into almost every corner of our lives, even for those who claim to know nothing about Facebook or Twitter. Businesses, social organizations, local churches and other religious groups are all on some social networking medium or are making plans to do so. Therefore, along with the growth and insidious nature of this charming beast comes the obvious legal issues that arise when something like Facebook is so widespread. The cases can be very complicated with no easy answers or quick remedies because for the most part there is no precedent for the courts or lawyers to follow.
First there is the issue of Publicity Rights in posting almost anything on the Internet, and especially on say Facebook, where many others will then pass it around the network. There are privacy laws to be considered as well as copyright laws and infringement should you post someone else’s work without citation or their permission, especially if you might be making some money on it.
Another thing to think about is, just who owns certain of these accounts, such as Twitter. Does the business own the twitter account used for branding, or does the employee who uses the account. In a recent lawsuit it was found that a company may claim ownership of an employee’s social media account however the ramifications for employees who post to Facebook are not all that clear. It might be your account and your posts but if it is being done under a company “banner” they can claim it for their own.
Workers also have to be very careful about accessing these networks during working hours as they could be dismissed if they are doing so without explicit permission. Social media is also being used more and more as evidence in court so be oh so careful what you post because you never know when it might come back to you, and perhaps not in ways that you could ever have imagined.
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My take:
Sounds like just another way that the lawyers are going to make things even more complicated than they already are. Litigation after litigation to follow on the back of everything from posting your aunt’s chicken soup recipe on Facebook to the FBI knocking on your door because of something posted by someone else that just happened to make it onto your Twitter account.
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