Social Media and the Workplace: Webinar

April 27, 2010

I’m pleased to let you know that I’ll be teaming up with three of my colleagues to offer a complimentary Social Media and the Workplace webinar on May 19th from 2:00 – 3:15 PM CST. Here’s some details…

Canadian employees – in ever increasing numbers – are blogging, tweeting and accessing social networking websites. These forms of social media are increasing the legal risks for Canadian businesses. These risks include disgruntled employees intentionally revealing trade secrets, defaming supervisors, harassing co-workers, or posting negative information about their employers’ business. There are even additional threats resulting from loyal employees who inadvertently disclose information online that runs afoul of security, privacy and competition laws. Join us for this 75 minute webinar during which we will discuss:

  • The legal do’s and don’ts of monitoring employee social media activities during and after work hours;
  • Tips for creating meaningful social media policies;
  • Tips for dealing with privacy and competition law, and securities regulatory risks; and
  • How to deal with potential civil liability resulting from employee social media activities.

Space is limited so please register here soon.

Other presenters (in addition to yours truly):

Leave a Comment » | Competition Law, Employee Monitoring, Privacy, Social Networking Websites, Technology | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Brian Bowman

Today’s “buzz” on Google Buzz offers lesson for new service roll-outs

April 20, 2010

Canada’s Privacy Commissioner, Jennifer Stoddart, has teamed up with nine other country’s privacy watchdogs today to warn Google and other organizations to better respect people’s privacy rights. The privacy commissioners have sent a letter to Google, accusing it of overlooking privacy values and legislation in launching new online products.

The privacy commissioners’ letter states, “we are increasingly concerned that, too often, the privacy rights of the world’s citizens are being forgotten as Google rolls out new technological applications. We were disturbed by your recent rollout of the Google Buzz social networking application, which betrayed a disappointing disregard for fundamental privacy norms and laws… Unfortunately, Google Buzz is not an isolated case. Google Street View was launched in some countries without due consideration of privacy and data protection laws and cultural norms. In that instance, you addressed privacy concerns related to such matters as the retention of unblurred facial images only after the fact, and there is continued concern about the adequacy of the information you provide before the images are captured… We therefore call on you, like all organizations entrusted with people’s personal information, to incorporate fundamental privacy principles directly into the design of new online services. That means, at a minimum:

  • collecting and processing only the minimum amount of personal information necessary to achieve the identified purpose of the product or service;
  • providing clear and unambiguous information about how personal information will be used to allow users to provide informed consent;
  • creating privacy-protective default settings;
  • ensuring that privacy control settings are prominent and easy to use;
  • ensuring that all personal data is adequately protected, and
  • giving people simple procedures for deleting their accounts and honouring their requests in a timely way.”

    • The privacy commissioners’ demand that Google and other organizations better incorporate privacy into the design of new online services underscores the need for the “Privacy by Design” initiative that Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner recently discussed in my “A Conversation with Dr. Ann Cavoukian” post. All organizations, regardless of their size (after all, we’re all not Google), would be well-advised to learn from today’s “buzz” about Google Buzz.

    Leave a Comment » | Data Protection, Due Diligence, Ontario's Information and Privacy Commissioner, Personal Information, Privacy, Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Social Networking Websites, Technology | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
    Posted by Brian Bowman

    Why the banks want to be your Facebook friend: Canadian Business Online

    April 13, 2010

    Canadian Business Online is asking if you “ever wonder who’s checking your Facebook profile? Sure, there are probably the old standbys, like your high-school crush and your nosy co-worker, but you should be aware that there might be someone else checking you out: your banker. Financial institutions of all stripes have been scouring social-networking sites since the days when MySpace was all the rage; now they troll Facebook, Twitter and blogs to find out more about their customers. Don’t be surprised if soon they take the information they’ve found about you and use it to determine your creditworthiness.”

    Yours truly was interviewed by Canadian Business Online for this article and, as you’ll see, I comment that I’m not aware of whether, or to what extent, the big banks and credit card companies are using personal information that’s publicly available on social networking websites to determine credit worthiness.  That being said, in the insurance industry “using information from social-networking sites has already become commonplace”. The message that I’d take from this article is that Canadians’ understanding of privacy, and the ground rules for managing publicly available personal information that we willingly post online, is rapidly evolving.  

    Read the Canadian Business Online article here>.

    Leave a Comment » | Facebook, Online Reputation Management, Privacy, Social Networking Websites | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
    Posted by Brian Bowman

    Should you say “no” to the police?

    April 7, 2010

    Imagine this scenario… The police show up at your office and demand access to records relating to one of your customers. You want to help the police (as you should), but are concerned about violating your customer’s privacy rights. What should you do?

    Well, the first thing you should do is ask the police for written documentation relating to their request. You should also immediately contact a lawyer with appropriate expertise because this type of scenario can be a legal minefield. For example, are you actually dealing with the police or some bold scam artist? Do the police have the legal authority to demand the requested information? Should they have a warrant?

    Presuming that you end up providing the records to the police, you’ll need to ensure that you’re not providing too much information. If the records of your customer are co-mingled with another individual, you’ll need to consider whether you can legally provide the police with access to the other person’s information. Are you then barred from telling the customer that the police were at your office? What sort of internal records should you keep to document that the police accessed your files? How long do you need to keep those internal records?

    It’s never fun to say “no” to the police. They are, after all, typically armed. But hopefully the police will make it easy for you to satisfy yourself, and your lawyer, that working cooperatively with them won’t violate your customer’s privacy and unnecessarily exposing your business to liability.

    2 Comments | Access to Information, Due Diligence, Lawful Access, Privacy | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
    Posted by Brian Bowman

    Internet hyperlinking case heading to Supreme Court

    April 5, 2010

    Are website operators presumed to have “published” defamatory materials that they deliberately link to from their websites? If not, what are the circumstances where it can be inferred that a website operator has “published” hyperlinked defamatory materials? We may be about to find out. The Supreme Court of Canada has just granted leave to appeal of Crookes v. Newton, the B.C. decision that I summarized in a previous post last October.

    There’s still plenty of  “grey areas” in Internet law. Hopefully, the Supreme Court of Canada will provide more definitive guidance for legal practitioners and website operators in the growing area of online reputation management. In the meantime, website operators should seek legal advice prior to hyperlinking to any potentially defamatory materials on the Internet.

    Leave a Comment » | Blogs, Defamation, Internet, Online Reputation Management, Technology | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
    Posted by Brian Bowman

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