By Porter Wright on Editors’ Note: Colleen Marshall, a Senior Attorney in Porter Wright’s Litigation Department, is also a widely-recognized, award-winning news anchor for Columbus’ NBC-affiliate, WCMH – 4. In a detailed interview with Porter Wright’s Sara Jodka last week, Colleen reports on the use of social media by employers: “You Can’t Delete Your Way Out Of Social Media.” … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Naked pictures? Drunken celebrations? Sexist comments? A click of a button and all evidence of your “Weekend at Bernie’s” can disappear. Job seekers know to scrub clean their Facebook pages before they connect with potential employers, to remove all trace of their off-color on-line life. But here in Ohio you can’t delete your way out … Continue Reading
By Jay Yurkiw on In a recent decision, a court in the Southern District of Ohio denied a motion to compel the plaintiff in an employment discrimination action to give the defendants her user names and passwords for each of the social media sites she uses. In Howell v. The Buckeye Ranch, Case No. 2:11-cv-1014 (S. D. Ohio Oct. 1, … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on In a recent decision, Costco Wholesale Corporation (NLRB Case No. 34-CA-012421), the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) considered a social media policy for the first time. The NLRB invalidated portions of Costco's policies and in doing so signaled that it will probably track closely with the General Counsel's guidance when reviewing social media policies.
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By Porter Wright on In a statement published on December 8, 2011, the Association of German Data Protection Agencies known as the “Duesseldorfer Kreis,” (“DK”) issued an opinion summarizing the minimum compliance criteria for operators of social networks in Germany: Transparent privacy policy and informed consent are essential for protecting the right to data privacy Opt-out solutions are insufficient, … Continue Reading
By Donna Ruscitti on Porter Wright attorney Justin Root will present “Social Media and Legal Risk” as part of the Information Systems Security Association (ISSA) Columbus Chapter’s Social Media Summit on October 19, 2011 in Worthington, Ohio. More information is available at http://centralohioissa.org/. ISSA is a not-for-profit, international organization of information security professionals and practitioners. It provides educational forums, publications, … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Facebook and other social media have had a real impact on the workplace–from influencing hiring and termination decisions to creating a new spin on issues relating to trade secrets, workplace privacy, and employee computer usage policies. As this post from our sister blog EmployerLawReoprt.com reminds us, each situation should be evaluated on its own merits.… Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on While nothing new by now, the practice of recording images or video of others without their knowledge and then disseminating the content on a worldwide basis has come under particular scrutiny over the past week. The tragic story of the Rutgers University student (as reported by ABC News here, where I first learned of it) has become the basis of a worldwide conversation … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Bloggers have been buzzing since the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) updated its Guides Concerning Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (“Guides”) to cover “consumer generated media” such as blogs and other Internet media forms. (16 C.F.R. Part 255) (.PDF) The changes are the first update since 1980 for the Guides, which are intended to offer guidance … Continue Reading
