Tag archives: Privacy

Online security breaches — A growing threat in the digital era

Daniel Daniele (CA)By Daniel Daniele (CA) on Posted in Security
One of the emerging threats in the digital era is online security breaches. Today, millions of people use social media platforms to post information about their lives online. In doing so, they often provide sensitive personal information to various platforms, including credit card information, personal preferences, and other information that is otherwise protected by various … Continue reading

LinkedIn’s Updated Terms of Service Aim to Increase Profile Visibility and Sharing

Chandler Stephens (US)By Chandler Stephens (US) on Posted in Privacy
In 2017, LinkedIn made several updates to its Terms of Service – comprised of its Privacy Policy and User Agreement – to provide for new LinkedIn features and give users some choices over how their information is used. In general, the changes revolve around new features that are intended to increase profile visibility and make … Continue reading

Who is responsible for fan sites?

Sven Jacobs (DE)By Sven Jacobs (DE) on Posted in Privacy
The Advocate General to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) Yves Bot caused a sensation with his unexpected opinion concerning the admissibility of social media fanpages under EU data protection law. According to the opinion of Mr. Bot, the operator of a social media fanpage is “jointly responsible for the processing and … Continue reading

Entering a new age of virtual reality

Daniel Daniele (CA)By Daniel Daniele (CA) on Posted in Privacy
Experiencing virtual reality The line between the digital world and the physical world is becoming increasingly blurred as we enter an era of virtual reality (VR).  VR can be defined as a “computer technology that uses virtual reality headsets…to generate realistic images, sounds and other sensations that simulate a user’s physical presence in a virtual … Continue reading

Me, Myself & ‘AI’

Daniel Daniele (CA)By Daniel Daniele (CA) on Posted in Copyright, Patent, Privacy
Human interactions with technology In the past few years, the use of social media has increased rapidly. A key feature of social media platforms and social media apps is the ability to interact with other people in ways that were not thought possible in previous generations.  With the click of a button, someone from the … Continue reading

Data processing and storage: Protection of Personal Information (POPI) and your social media account

Lovanya MoodleyBy Lovanya Moodley on Posted in Privacy
The South African Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPI), which protects the processing of personal information by public and private bodies, is much like similar UK and EU legislation. It was signed into law in November 2013 but is not in full effect yet. Once the Act is made effective, companies will be given … Continue reading

Who is Fact Checking the Fact Checkers?

Daniel Daniele (CA)By Daniel Daniele (CA) on Posted in Defamation, Privacy
With the proliferation of so-called “fake news”, companies are starting to rely on third party organizations to perform a “fact checking” function in order to distinguish between legitimate news and fake news. The fake news epidemic gained traction in the recent US presidential election.  We have previously written about the fake news problem, as well … Continue reading

The edit button: can the past be erased?

Daniel Daniele (CA)By Daniel Daniele (CA) on Posted in Defamation, Privacy
Social media users have a new demand for 2017 – they want the ability to edit their public messages. Spelling mistakes, missing words and misplaced pronouns can have embarrassing, unintended and sometimes dangerous consequences.  The ability to edit one’s message is an attractive feature.  This request has led some users on the social media platform … Continue reading

Facebook wins privacy case on tracking logged-out users

Kerri Gevers (ZA)By Kerri Gevers (ZA) on Posted in Privacy
Facebook 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 … Continue reading

German competition authorities initiate proceeding against Facebook

Sven Jacobs (DE)By Sven Jacobs (DE) on Posted in Privacy
Facebook became the latest American technology company to face antitrust hurdles in Europe after the German Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt), a competition authority, opened an investigation into whether Facebook Inc., USA, Facebook Ireland Limited and Facebook Germany GmbH abused their alleged dominant position in social networking by violating data protection laws. Accordingly, unlike other proceedings … Continue reading

Internet’s ‘Hide and Seek’ Battle Continues in Canada

Daniel Daniele (CA)By Daniel Daniele (CA) on Posted in Copyright, Litigation, Privacy
The anonymity of the Internet has posed many challenges to the protection of intellectual property rights. The sheer size of the population of online users and the millions of file-sharing programs and other social media outlets that exist have left IP rights holders struggling to protect their property and goodwill in the digital era. For … Continue reading

Facebook “like” button violates privacy laws

Nerushka BowanTatum Govender (ZA)By Nerushka Bowan and Tatum Govender (ZA) on Posted in Privacy
On 9 March 2016 the Düsseldorf Regional Court in Germany ruled that an online shopping site, Peek & Cloppenburg, which integrated Facebook’s “like” button into its website had violated users’ privacy rights. How the “like” button works The button allows website users who click on it to share instantly the pages and content from the website on … Continue reading

Hacked private messages used in court

Kerri Gevers (ZA)By Kerri Gevers (ZA) on Posted in Litigation, Privacy
A 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 … Continue reading

Social Listening – Are You Ready?

Mayura Noordyke (US)By Mayura Noordyke (US) on Posted in General, Privacy
One of the keys to a successful social media presence for businesses is real-time engagement and quick response times. “Social listening” can help businesses tap into consumer sentiment in order to engage with their audience effectively and to elevate their brands. What is social listening? Social listening constitutes tracking conversations on social media that mention … Continue reading

No Secret in Brazil

Seth Jaffe (US)By Seth Jaffe (US) on Posted in General, Litigation, Privacy
The popular social networking app “Secret” has reportedly been temporarily enjoined in Brazil. A civil court in Brazil ordered both Google and Apple to remove Secret from their respective app stores, and to pull the apps from the phones of their users. In its opinion, the Brazilian court raised concerns that Secret’s anonymity feature can … Continue reading

eDiscovery and private social media accounts

James LeitoBy James Leito on Posted in General, Privacy
The United States District Court for the District of Kansas recently clarified the scope of discoverable information from private social media accounts. In Stonebarger v. Union Pacific Corp., a wrongful death case where plaintiffs were seeking to recover damages for the deaths of two individuals killed in a collision, the defendants requested two types of … Continue reading
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