Archive for the ‘Facebook’ Category
March 14, 2013
How Facebook deals with death (via The Media Online)
Kristina Sherry (J.D. Candidate, Pepperdine University) has published “What Happens to Our Facebook Accounts When We Die?: Probate versus Policy and the Fate of Social-Media Assets Postmortem”, Pepperdine Law Review, Vol. 40, No. 1, 2013. The abstract reads:
More than 580,000 Facebook users in the U.S. will die this year, raising numerous legal questions as to the disposition of their Facebook pages and similar “digital assets” left in a state of legal limbo. While access to and ownership of decedents’ email accounts has been philosophized for nearly a decade, this comment focuses on the additional legal uncertainties posed by “digital death” in the more amorphous realm of “social media.” Part II explores the implications of digital death by conceptualizing digital assets and surveying the underlying legal principles of contractual policies, probate, property, and privacy concerns. Part III surveys current law surrounding digital death, emphasizing a 2010 Oklahoma statute granting executors and administrators power over decedents’ “social networking” accounts. Parts III and IV consider what the current state of the law means for individuals facing death (i.e. everyone) as social media interacts with both (1) probate law and (2) social-media services’ policies as reflected in their terms of service. Part V explores how the law and proposed solutions may address the salient policy goals of honoring decedents’ postmortem wishes while meanwhile respecting privacy; preserving digital assets; and minimizing probate, litigation and other paperwork-type hassles. Ultimately this comment suggests while state or even federal legislation may call attention to the importance of digital estate planning, a better solution likely lies between the two extremes of the probate-versus-policy power struggle, and that social-media services themselves may be in the better position to quell the perfect storm of legal uncertainty that looms.
Download a pdf copy of the article at SSRN here.
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Tags:Death, Digital asset, Facebook, Law review, Oklahoma, Pepperdine University, Probate, Social media
Posted in adhesion, contract, contract of adhesion, decedent, digital, digital legacy, estate, Facebook, online, property, social media, Terms of Service | Leave a Comment »
March 13, 2013
Matthew Lafferman (JD Candidate, George Mason University – School of Law) has published “Do Facebook and Twitter Make You a Public Figure?: How to Apply the Gertz Public Figure Doctrine to Social Media”, Santa Clara Computer and High Technology Law Journal, Vol. 29, No. 1, 2012. Here’s the abstract:
In Gertz v. Welch, the Supreme Court expanded First Amendment protections to defamation law by requiring a plaintiff who qualified as a public figure to prove a higher burden of proof to recover for damages under a defamation suit. The Court relied on two major rationales to delineate the Gertz doctrine: public figures “voluntarily exposed themselves to increased risk of injury” and had “significantly greater access to the channels of effective communication.” Applying this doctrine to online media poses challenges, specifically when applied to social media platforms. Many scholars have recognized that social media users have equal access to the same basic media features, rendering the Gertz Court’s access-to the-media rationale inapplicable when applied to social media. A 216% rise in defamation suits against Internet users in the last three years alone, due to the recent discovery that most homeowner’s insurance policies cover libel liability, signals an almost inevitable rise in defamation suits that will eventually force courts to face the challenge of applying the Gertz public figure doctrine to social media.
This Comment offers an approach that reconciles the problems of applying the public figure doctrine to social media. This Comment argues that courts should require defendants to overcome certain initial presumptions by clear and convincing evidence before designating a social media user an involuntary public figure or a general public figure. Moreover, when recommending an approach for courts to identify voluntary activity on a social network for limited-purpose public figures, courts should avoid defining mere access to social media as voluntary activity and instead conclude such access is an extension of an individual’s private life. This approach would allow courts to apply much of the currently existing public figure doctrine to social media and help courts avoid the negative legal and policy consequences of abolishing the doctrine altogether.
A pdf copy of the paper is available for download at SSRN here.
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Tags:First Amendment to the United States Constitution, George Mason University School of Law, Law review, Public Figure, Social media, Supreme Court of the United States, Twitter
Posted in defamation, Defamation Law, Facebook, First Amendment, free speech, Freedom of expression, freedom of speech, Gertz v. Welch, Public Figure, SCOTUS, social media, Twitter, United States, United States Supreme Court | Leave a Comment »
March 13, 2013
Kelly Lynn Anders has published “Ethical Exits: When Lawyers and Judges Must Sever Ties on Social Media”, Charleston Law Review, Vol. 7, No. 2, Winter 2012-2013. The abstract reads:
This article addresses the very recent trend of requiring lawyers and judges to sever ties on social media, the professional implications of doing so, relevant rules governing judicial and attorney conduct, and a discussion of “best practices” for lawyers and judges to follow when social media connections must be broken. Recent opinions from states that have issued social media directives in this area will also be discussed, along with a brief overview of three of the most commonly used social media sites at the time of the publication of this article – Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Through this discussion and analysis, one theme will continue to resurface – the increasingly pressing need for guidance and clarity in the MRPC and MRJC so that expectations involving social media connections will be clear, uniform, and much easier to manage for lawyers, judges, and anyone with whom they may communicate, either professionally or personally. Such clear-cut guidance would also decrease the need for severing ties that should not have been formed in the first place, thereby also serving to contribute to the preservation of solid and favorable reputations of all jurists and counselors in an increasingly virtual world.
Download a pdf copy of the article via SSRN here.
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Tags:American Bar Association Model Rules of Professional Conduct, Facebook, Lawyer, LinkedIn, MRJC, MRPC, Social media, Twitter
Posted in ABA, American Bar Association, ethics, Facebook, internet, internet law, Judge, judging, Kelly Lynn Anders, LinkedIn, MRJC, MRPC, social media, Twitter | Leave a Comment »
April 2, 2012
Jon Garon (NKU Chase College of Law) has posted “Tidying Up the Internet: Take Down of Unauthorized Content under Copyright, Trademark and Defamation Law”. Here is the abstract:
As business clients make available an ever-increasing array of online content and services, the specter of liability for inappropriate online content looms large. Still, U.S. federal law protects businesses that adopt appropriate take-down regimes for copyright infringement, defamatory content, and even improper use of competitor’s trademarks. As business clients make available an ever-increasing array of online content and services, the specter of liability for inappropriate online content looms large. Still, federal law protects businesses that adopt appropriate take-down regimes for copyright infringement, defamatory content, and even improper use of competitor’s trademarks. While the percentage of complaints suggests that the notice-and-take-down system is a minor aspect of the Internet media ecology, the existence of the system remains a source of tremendous anger for many. Moreover significant litigation in the past year has renewed the focus on these legal tools to tidy the Internet to cleanse it of unwanted or unauthorized content. This article will focus on the recent activity in the courts and congress regarding the various attempts to deal with unauthorized, unwanted and controversial content available on the Internet.
Download the article from SSRN here.
(h/t Inforrm’s Blog)
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Tags:Copyright, Copyright infringement, Defamation, Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Facebook, Google, Intellectual property, Law
Posted in copyright, defamation, Facebook, intellectual property, internet, internet defamation, internet law, Internet Service Providers, privacy | Leave a Comment »
August 18, 2011
Willow Jacobson (University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill) and Shannon Tufts have published “To Post or Not to Post: Employee Rights and Social Media”, APSA 2011 Annual Meeting Paper. The abstract reads:
In line with the theme of this year’s APSA conference, this paper examines issues of public employee rights as they relate to social media policies. This paper employs an interdisciplinary approach to examine the issue of employee rights in relationship to social media actions both on and off the job. The proliferation of the use and forms of social media in the last five years has been extensive. Significant efforts are being made to capture the power of this medium as a resource for government while at the same time governments are struggling to create appropriate, legal, and meaningful policies related to employee usage and behavior. Stories abound of public employees’ misuse of social media both at and away from work. Misconduct has led to not just disciplinary action but substantial media attention. Issues of First and Fourth Amendment rights, human resource policies, and technology policies are all critical to this topic.
This paper reviews social media policies for public employees with attention to the employees’ rights. Content analysis of state government policies provide an overview of the current state of practice and highlight issues of public employee rights. The paper includes a discussion of key issues of employee rights, recommendations for practice, and future research needs.
The paper may be downloaded from SSRN here.
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Tags:Chapel Hill, employer-employee relationship, Employment, employment law, Google, LinkedIn, Social media, social media policy, University of North Carolina, YouTube
Posted in Facebook, First Amendment, free speech, Freedom of expression, freedom of speech, social media, Twitter | Leave a Comment »
Antonin I. Pribetic
