Seth Jaffe (US)

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Introducing our Social Media Glossary of Terms

By Seth Jaffe (US) on January 12, 2015 Posted in General

Norton Rose Fulbright’s Social Media Law Bulletin is proud to offer a Glossary of Terms listing various terms attributed to social media issues. The Glossary includes links to our respective blog posts on the terms. Take a look at our Glossary Section for more information and a list of these terms.… Continue reading

Yelp! survives complaint of extortion

By Seth Jaffe (US) on September 29, 2014 Posted in General

Does a web site’s manipulation of publicly available positive and negative reviews rise to the level of extortion? In a September 2, 2014 opinion, the Ninth Circuit said not necessarily. In affirming the district court’s dismissal, the Ninth Circuit in Levitt v Yelp, No. 11-17676, stated that “unless a person has a preexisting right to … Continue reading

Ninth Circuit extends freedom of the press protection to blogger

By Seth Jaffe (US) on February 24, 2014 Posted in Defamation

The Ninth Circuit has extended an additional level of protection for company publications that take the form of blogs. In reference to the level of fault required to prove liability for an allegedly defamatory posting, the court explained that it is irrelevant whether a blogger is a member of an institutional press corps or a … Continue reading

Copyright Safe Harbor for Third-Party Content

By Seth Jaffe (US) on July 16, 2013 Posted in Copyright

Title II of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) provides a safe harbor for online service providers that allow users to self-post content. For companies with Web 2.0 enabled sites, 17 U.S.C. § 512(c) limits liability “for infringement of copyright by reason of the storage at the direction of a user.” But this safe harbor … Continue reading

Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986

By Seth Jaffe (US) on May 13, 2013 Posted in Privacy

The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (“ECPA”) prohibits interception of “any wire, oral, or electronic communication.” 18 U.S.C. § 2511. Electronic communication is defined as “any transfer of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data, or intelligence of any nature transmitted in whole or in part by a wire, radio, electromagnetic, photo-electronic or photo-optical system.” 18 U.S.C. … Continue reading

ECPA Reform Bill adds geolocation provisions

By Seth Jaffe (US) on May 13, 2013 Posted in Privacy

Congress woman Zoe Lofgren recently introduced a bill intending to align the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 with the current state of technology, especially with respect to cloud computing. The Online Communications and Geolocation Protection Act, backed by tech companies such as Google, Apple, Microsoft, Intel, Twitter, eBay and Amazon, intends to clarify and apply … Continue reading

Computer Fraud and Abuse Act

By Seth Jaffe (US) on March 28, 2013 Posted in Fraud

The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”), 18 U.S.C. § 1030 et seq., projects the common law tort of real property trespass into the virtual realm of computers. The CFAA has been successfully invoked for creation of fake user accounts on social network sites, email spam, email phishing, robotic data mining, and unauthorized hard-drive wiping. … Continue reading

CDA § 230 Safe Harbor

By Seth Jaffe (US) on February 13, 2013 Posted in Defamation

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (“CDA”), otherwise known as § 230 Safe Harbor, explains that “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.” 47 U.S.C.A. § 230(c)(1). In addition, § 230 precludes liability for providers … Continue reading

Passwords & Social Media

By Seth Jaffe (US) on January 2, 2013 Posted in Security

An employee’s personal social media page may offer prospective hackers a backdoor into company protected information. Many companies are moving towards lengthy and complex passwords, which has placed additional strain on password recovery procedures. Many of these “forgot password” security procedures ask for pseudo personal information such as a user’s high school mascot or mother’s … Continue reading

Will Facebook’s New Policy Affect Your Company Page?

By Seth Jaffe (US) on December 3, 2012 Posted in Privacy

Should companies with social media pages be concerned with dissemination of their information to other entities, such as current or potential competitors? Some privacy groups think so, and warn that a user of popular social media site Facebook may well find his/her/its private data shared with an unexpected entity. In Facebook, for example, this newly … Continue reading

OpenID

By Seth Jaffe (US) on December 1, 2012 Posted in General

OpenID is an third-party identification protocol that allows users to log on to multiple websites with only one username and password. Users register with one OpenID website, called an Identity Provider. The user can then log on to any website that accepts OpenID using the identity from the provider. The “OpenID Acceptor,” as it is … Continue reading