So far, 2013 has been anticlimactic for litigators waiting for an authoritative appellate decision addressing the rules of social media discovery. Although state and federal trial courts have established some basic parameters regarding the accessibility of private social content in litigation, there remains a conspicuous lack of appellate court guidance on [...]
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We have all been warned that potential employers will Google our names when making hiring decisions. However, most of us probably have failed to realize that employers receive help with this type of researching. Fortunately, the help must abide by certain laws when providing such services.
This month, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) [...]
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Examining an opposing party’s social media page for damaging pictures or posts has become common practice in many trials, particularly civil trials or those where credibility is a key issue. A Facebook or MySpace picture that contradicts the image a party is attempting to portray can be helpful in swaying a jury. Although using evidence [...]
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Last month I blogged about Missouri’s Amy Hestir Student Protection Act, a law which prohibits private communications between teachers and students on social media websites. Several readers shared their concerns about the vagueness and breadth of the Act in the comments. It seemed that the law was clearly running afoul of several Constitutional [...]
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Lawmakers this week are fighting against internet companies that track users’ personal information in an effort to alleviate online privacy concerns.
First, Rep. Edward J. Market (D. Mass) and Joe Barton (R. Texas) introduced the “Do Not Track Kids Act of 2011.” The bill (PDF) restricts how companies monitor children’s information [...]
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