As social media continues to dominate the world — or at least conversations about employment law —  there are a few notable posts that are worth delving into this week that explore the topic further. 

  • Forbes blogger Kashmir Hill (formerly of Above the Law) has a good piece on whether privacy settings matter on Facebook if you sue or get sued.  She compares two cases — one from the East Coast, one from the West  — that reach different conclusions.  What does this mean? It means the law is very unsettled in this area.
     
  • A similar post in Law Technology News explores the effect of the Stored Communications Act has on requests for a litigant’s Facebook postings.  As the post concludes:

While litigants may be able to avoid application of the SCA under some circumstances, courts will continue to struggle with application of the statute to modern forms of electronic communication, such as social networking websites. As observed by the 9th Circuit, "until Congress brings the laws in line with modern technology, protection of the Internet and websites such as [these] will remain a confusing and uncertain area of the law."

  • An excellent post in the Non-Compete & Trade Secrets blog explores the impact that LinkedIn is having on a claim that a company’s customers are confidential.  Is a change of your employment status on LinkedIn — which gets sent to your contacts — sufficient interference with a customer relationship? Who knows, the author says. But there is a proposed solution: A fact-specific social media policy that addresses these situations.  Which is a nice tie in to the next post….

  • Doug Cornelius, from Compliance Building, was kind enough to post his presentation materials on preparing and drafting social media policies.  Read it. 
     
  • Finally, for the lawyers out there, the ABA Division of Bar Services, has an easy-to-understand post on how to get started on Facebook.  It’s a good primer; as the post says — "No More Excuses".