2011 was quite a year for the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC has vigorously brought forward their Consumer Protection Agenda with tactical interventions in the name of consumer privacy, that have shaken social media networks, app developers, brands and marketing departments alike. The FTC’s rulings for 2011, pertaining social media, may seem unrelated to the naked eye, but in my opinion, they are the road map in terms of what business immersed in social media, should take into account in 2012, in order to avoid legal exposure.

continue reading "FTC on Social Media — Top cases of 2011 and what does it mean in 2012"

Even though offering customer service via social media is simple and cost effective, only about 1/3 of Fortune Global 100 companies are using it, according to Burson-Marsteller’s study  “Social Media Global Check-Up” released on February of this year.   Companies are worried about liability and feel the medium doesn’t allow them enough control so as to isolate potential risks, while trying to be more accessible to their customers.

 

continue reading "Episode #21 — 6 legal considerations on the use of Social Media for Customer Service"

continue reading "FTC on Mobile Apps & Facebook Promotional Guidelines"

The Law of the Cloud – Patrick Leahy, Chairman of the Judiciary Senate Committee, has proposed legislation to require a probable cause warrant to obtain access to information stored in the cloud. His proposal was well received among the online community since it’s certainly a step in the right direction, in terms of protecting an individual’s privacy. If finally approved, it will amend and nullify certain provisions of the Electronic Communications Act of 1986, which most definitely has to catch up with more than twenty years of technology and innovation. If approved, it is also expected that it will expand the National Security Letters which allows for the FBI, without the need of obtaining a court order, to gain access of financial and telecommunications information of an individual which may be relevant to a government investigation. As you all might already know, legal scholars call the US Constitution “the law of the land”. It certainly makes sense that the law extends it reach also to the Cloud, since we have started to move our files, data and information to cloud servers which are on the brink of becoming mainstream. In a very short time, probably all our data will be stored not in our computer or devices but in our very own cloud archives. I’ll keep you up to date of current developments on this topic.

continue reading "Legally Speaking with JCB: The Law of The Cloud, Online Streaming, AT&T, Microsoft"