Risks Associated With Publication

"The risks you could face when you publish online can take a number of forms, depending on what and how you publish. The sections that follow are not intended to make you an expert on media law, but merely to help you identify potential "red flags" so that when you publish something that might result in liability, you will know to be extra careful and will take the necessary steps to minimize your potential legal risks."

Publishing Personal and Private Information: Understanding Your Legal Risks

"When you publish information about someone without permission, especially personal or private information, you potentially expose yourself to legal liability even if your portrayal is factually accurate. While you should keep this potential liability in mind, the law generally gives online publishers quite a bit of breathing space to report and comment on matters of legitimate public concern, even when the person being discussed objects to the coverage."

Websites, data protection and children

"The first principle of data protection law is that personal data must be processed fairly and lawfully, and that one or more specified conditions must be met."

Manufacturer pays out $426,000 in damages and attorneys fees as a result of engaging in a useless exercise

"In Venture Tape Corp. v. McGills Glass Warehouse, 540 F.3d 56 (1st Cir. 2008), a case where a company embedded a competitor’s trademarks in its website via metatags and invisible white-on-white text, the First Circuit held that the company infringed its competitor’s marks and upheld the district court’s award of $230,339, representing the defendant’s estimated net profits during the period of infringement, and $188,583 in attorneys fees to the plaintiff."

Standard Tactics, LLC: How GoDaddy Profits from Expired Domains

"GoDaddy.com and other registrars that are part of The Go Daddy Group don’t use a partner to sell customers’ expired domain names. Instead it auctions them on the company’s own platform originally called The Domain Name Aftermarket (TDNAM). It’s a fairly transparent system. But when a valuable domain doesn’t sell, something not-so-transparent goes on in the background, as described in detail below."

Protecting trademarks increasingly difficult job

"The recent news that Apple Inc. was threatening to sue a B.C. computer school over use of an apple logo has brought renewed public attention on the importance of trademarks in the marketplace. These intangible assets can create tremendous goodwill and value for companies, which must ensure that they are used properly and enforced when necessary..."

How to Choose a Web Hosting Company?

(We have received a number of complaints relating to loss of domains, back ups of websites and downtime. I found this article practical and useful as a point of reference when choosing a web hosting company. It also contains articles that should appear in your Agreement. Pria)

"If the hosting company registers domains under someone else's name, you may have problems switching hosting providers later. If you were in such situation, you would have to file for a Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), which costs much more than both domain name and web hosting service together...."

Senator probes privacy law after Obama phone record breach

In light of the recent breach of President-elect Barack Obama's cell phone records, a senator on Monday sent a letter (PDF) to the Justice Department asking how many investigations or prosecutions the department has undertaken for violations of the Telephone Records and Privacy Protection Act.

Linking to defamatory material is not the same as publishing it, says Canadian court

The publisher of a link to defamatory material does not have any liability for that defamation, a Canadian court has ruled. Liability could only exist if the link publisher made any statement relating to the defamatory material itself, the court said.

Law firm argues that links to its website abuse its trade marks

"One of the world's biggest law firms is suing a small Chicago-based website for naming the firm and linking to two of its associates' biographies. A judge rejected an attempt to have the case thrown out last week..."

More email security tips

"In February this year, I listed five basic email security tips that everyone should employ. The following is a list of five more good pieces of email security advice:..."

DNS resource record integrity is still a big, big problem

"The need to secure DNS has never been greater. Attacks against DNS cache integrity, including entire zone references, are an easy way for criminals to redirect your unsuspecting users to malicious sites. Current controls are still lacking."

Shifting from compliance to security requires patience

"It is not just government managers who require behavior changes when it comes to securing sensitive assets. Managers in private industry often mistakenly see compliance as security. But changing this view takes patient persistence."

Electronic Evidence in South Africa

A must read article on the legal framework for electronic evidence in South Africa.

Searching and Seizing Computers and Obtaining Electronic Evidence in Criminal Investigations

"This publication (the Manual) is a revised version of the 2001 edition of "Searching and Seizing Computers and Obtaining Electronic Evidence in Criminal Investigations." In addition to discussing recent caselaw, the Manual incorporates the important changes made to the laws governing electronic evidence gathering by the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001, Pub. L. No. 107-56, 115 Stat. 272 (2001) (the "PATRIOT Act")."

Rules on Electronic Evidence

E-Evidence Rules published by the Supreme Court of the Phillipines. Insightful and noteworthy definitions.

Web 2.0 and e-discovery: Risks and countermeasures

Enterprise employees frequently use social networking tools, most notably Web-based applications. It's no surprise more organizations are wondering what happens if social networking data becomes relevant to an e-discovery investigation.

Legal Download 2.0 - legal issues for UAE bloggers

"Arguably, the one factor that remains constant is that legal risks in blogs exist; and yet recent research conducted by the UK's YouGov found that only 5% of internet users are clear on their legal rights and responsibilities when posting comments online; and only a third (33%) of regular internet users read the legal terms and conditions, disclaimers or guidelines for posting comments on the internet forums they use."

Web 2.0 legals: the challenge of user-generated content

Organisations wishing to use internal Web 2.0 Facebook-style social networking sites for communication and people development, or other technology tools which rely on user-generated content such as wikis and blogs, have to be aware of these. In a worst case scenario, an organisation could end up being vicariously liable for defamatory remarks made by a member of staff on an internal blog or social networking site.

Legal Aspects of Web 2.0 Activities

"The report identifies the practical legal risks associated with activities conducted in online participatory spaces. Encompassing Copyright, Privacy, Defamation, Breach of Confidence and other areas of law, the report outlines the main considerations that arise when engaging in the online environment. It also examines the popular social networking platforms YouTube, MySpace and Second Life in detail, analysing legal issues specific to their Terms of Use and functionality."

Legal risks of Web 2.0 explained

"Ralph Spencer, solicitor in Pinsent Masons’ Outsourcing, Technology and Commercial Group, warned that adoption of new forms of communication such as blogging, wikis, podcasting, social networking and discussion forums also increase the scope of applicability for reputation and confidentiality, content ownership and licensing, intellectual property infringement and defamation claims."

Data security: What the law requires of IT

"Codifying this shift is a complex blend of laws and regulations enacted to protect the confidentiality and integrity of valuable personal data and the individuals who might be harmed by a breach. Not complying with these mandates can result in grave legal consequences should your organization suffer a breach."

Data Security and Compliance

"Wide spread media coverage coupled with mounting losses due to fraud and identity theft has increased the pressure being brought to bear on this problem. At last count there are over 100 different regulations pertaining to data protection and security breaches. All these overlapping regulations and the blur surrounding jurisdictional authority have increased the complexity of compliance."

IT security oversight may have enabled data breach

"A former employee accused of stealing customer data from Countrywide Financial Corp. may have been able to download the information to a thumb drive because of an oversight by the home mortgage lender's IT department."

Security Flap Slams Wells Fargo Over Data Breach

"In the wake of news that a Wells Fargo bank access code had been used to steal thousands of consumers' personal information, the bank has launched a full-scale investigation into the crime.
The code was used to access information from MicroBilt, which describes itself as the "single source industry leader in risk management information" and provides consumer information to Wells Fargo and other banks and businesses, between May and June, Wells Fargo spokeswoman Mary Berg told InternetNews.com."

Dominion Enterprises Discloses Data Breach in Business Division

"Dominion Enterprises today announced that a computer server within InterActive Financial Marketing Group (IFMG), a division of Dominion Enterprises located in Richmond, Virginia, was hacked into and illegally accessed by an unknown and unauthorized third party between November 2007 and February 2008.
The data intrusion resulted in the potential exposure of personal information, including the names, addresses, birth dates, and social security numbers of 92,095 applicants who submitted credit applications to IFMG's family of special finance Web sites."

Ministry of Justice reports nine data breaches

(UK) "The Ministry of Justice has reported nine data-breach incidents which may affect around 45,000 people.

According to a report, the Ministry suffered a breach in June 2007 when discs containing 27,000 supplier records were shown to ‘a representative of a newspaper'. Although the Ministry has claimed that "the data was not lost or stolen but some examples were shown" it has defended itself by saying that all the data, including supplier names, addresses and, in some cases, bank details, was subsequently recovered or destroyed."