Houseparty, the group video chat app that allows users to interact in “rooms”, is unsurprisingly becoming one of the most popular social media platforms in the current global environment. Distinguishing features are: (i) the ability to move between chat sessions happening simultaneously in other rooms; and (ii) the ability to play party games while chatting, which is a welcome distraction from the more serious conversation topics that tend to dominate our interactions at the moment!… Continue Reading
Kerri Gevers (SG)
(Virtual) house rules: Things to know for Houseparty hangouts
Posted in GeneralExposed! Woman awarded $6.4m for explicit revenge photos including copyright breach
Posted in CopyrightFour years after a Californian woman sued her ex-boyfriend for posting sexually explicit photographs and videos of her online, she was awarded USD $6.4 million in one the largest judgments of its kind. According to the New York Times, although the victim was successful, this case highlights the complexities of the law in this area which (like many other areas of law) lags behind technology.… Continue Reading
Exposed! How to combat the sharing of harmful content on social media
Posted in GeneralOnline video celebrity Chrissy Chambers has recently settled a case against her ex-partner for damages suffered as a result of his posting sexually explicit video clips online. The terms of the settlement are confidential but this and several other high-profile cases have generated much publicity around social media platforms’ responsibility to monitor and remove harmful or abusive content.
Content can be harmful in a number of ways, such as cyberbullying, threats of violence, hate speech and even “revenge porn” (the sharing, usually on a public platform, of intimate photos or videos of a person without their consent).
Corporate reputations are … Continue Reading
Should you have a digital will?
Posted in GeneralMost of us have a number of social media or other online profiles. A digital will enables you to set out, in one place, your instructions on how you want each of these profiles to be handled after your death.… Continue Reading
Social media: life after death?
Posted in GeneralHave you considered what you would like to happen to your social media accounts when you die? Where the platform gives you options, have you selected one? A while ago we wrote about what happens to your social media account when you die.
Many platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn have different policies about what will happen to a deceased person’s profile. Since our last post, some of these policies have changed. Here is the current status as of the date of this post:… Continue Reading
Court orders ex-employee to update LinkedIn profile
Posted in GeneralA South African High Court on March 8, 2017 reportedly gave a former estate agent five days to correct the employment information on his LinkedIn profile.
Three years after Mr. van der Schyff resigned from his position at Danie Crous Auctioneers, his profile still reflected that he was employed there. Despite two years’ worth of requests from the company to correct the information, eventually followed by a demand from its lawyer, van der Schyff refused to do so. The company then approached the court for an order to compel the profile correction.… Continue Reading
Facebook wins privacy case on tracking logged-out users
Posted in PrivacyFacebook has won an appeal against a Belgian court ruling, which ordered it to stop tracking logged-out users who visit Facebook pages and other websites linked to Facebook.
On 29 June 2016 the Brussels Court of Appeal held that the Belgian data protection authority (the Belgian Privacy Commission), which brought the original case, does not have jurisdiction over Facebook’s operations in Ireland, where the data is actually processed.… Continue Reading
Social media users responsible for comments
Posted in DefamationThe High Court of South Africa ruled in Isparta v Richter that a Facebook user was guilty of defamation because a defamatory post appeared on his Facebook wall and was not removed by him, even though he was not the author of the post. The court ruled that because he knew of the post and “allowed his name to be coupled” with the author, he was as liable as the author.… Continue Reading
Hacked private messages used in court
Posted in Litigation, PrivacyA South African high court recently ruled that a civil litigant’s private Facebook messages, which were unlawfully obtained by the hacking of his personal account, were nevertheless admissible as evidence against him.
In Harvey v Niland, the litigants were members of the same corporation. Niland was also an employee of the corporation. After leaving his employment on bad terms, he remained a member of the corporation. Harvey sought a court order to prevent Niland from soliciting the corporation’s existing customers for his new employer and damaging the corporation’s reputation, in breach of his fiduciary duties as a member of … Continue Reading
