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

Smartphones in the workplace: what’s your business doing to manage the risk?

July 6, 2009

Cell phonesRecently, an interesting article in the Globe and Mail dealt with the issue of smartphone etiquette. Business professionals fidgeting with their BlackBerrys and iPhones in meetings, walking through airports with eyes glued to their small glowing screens and operating their devices in restrooms may seem unrealistic at first blush, but is it really? The reality is that smartphones have permeated the business world. They are everywhere, they are powerful and have the potential to be extremely damaging.

Breaches of confidential corporate data and personal information are nothing new to the business world, but smartphones have brought a new dimension to the problem. Smartphones are starting to make appearances in Canadian court cases in a supporting role, but it won’t be long before they are squarely in the spotlight. The latest iPhone model has up to 32GB of memory while BlackBerrys can store vast amounts of data on memory cards. The equivalent of entire filing cabinets can now be carried around conveniently in your shirt pocket. This reality has increased the risk for massive privacy breaches in the blink of an eye.

The big question is how involved should employers be in regulating and monitoring their employees use of smartphones? All encompassing monitoring of employee smartphone use is a touchy area, but the permeation of smartphones in today’s corporate world and the corresponding risks to businesses necessitates (at the very least) that relevant guidelines concerning their use in the workplace should be implemented by employers. All it takes to damage a business is for one employee to misplace their smartphone without having first activated their security settings.

1 Comment | Employee Monitoring, Privacy, Privacy Breach, Security, Security Breach, Smartphones | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Brian Bowman

Is your employer monitoring your Net use?

February 5, 2009

businesses1Is your employer monitoring your Net use?

My March 7, 2005 column in the Winnipeg Free Press discusses the legal right of employers to monitor their employees’ email and internet surfing habits.

Leave a Comment » | Employee Monitoring, Online Reputation Management, Privacy, Security | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Brian Bowman

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