The SEC is Looking at Advisers’ Use of Social Media

According to a story in Investment News, the Securities and Exchange Commission began a sweep of investment advisers’ use of social media and social networking last month. The story hast a quote from Doug Flynn, an adviser at Flynn Zito Capital Management LLC, that is exactly on target for traditional investment advisers: “I’d love to … Read more »

Organized Labor and Social Media Policies

While preparing for my presentation today on social media policies, I came a cross this great article by Seth Borden: Labor Disputes Arising out of Social Media. Having organized labor in your workforce will complicate the creation and enforcement of a social media policy. Potential unionizing activities offer similar problems. Employers must consider traditional labor … Read more »

Virtual Corporate Counsel Forum: Social Media Policies

The folks at ALM are producing an online version of their Corporate Counsel’s annual General Counsel Conferences. I’m stepping in to fill a lat minute vacancy for one session: Social Media Policies: Crafting a Uniform Policy Across your Organization and Enforcing It. I’ll be joining Valerie L. Boccadoro, Director and Senior Intellectual Property Counsel at … Read more »

Social Networking Malware as Affinity Fraud

Panda Security released its first annual Social Media Risk Index for small- and medium-sized businesses. They surveyed 315 US SMBs with up to 1,000 employees during the month of July. 33 percent of these companies had experienced a malware or virus infection from social networks 23 percent citing employee privacy violations resulting in the loss … Read more »

The Second FTC Action for Online Endorsements

Back in December, the Federal Trade Commission released new guidelines that specifically required bloggers to disclose any material connections to a product or company they are writing about. In May, they brought their first action under those guidelines against Ann Taylor. The FTC declined to bring an enforcement action. Last week, they brought their second … Read more »

Compliance, the SEC, and the Supreme Court

Supreme Court Rules on the Privacy of Text Messages

Sort of. The Supreme Court issued its ruling in Ontario v. Quon regarding a police chief reviewing the content of a police officer’s text messages with consent or a warrant. Many commenters hoped that the Court would issue a broad statement on an employee’s privacy rights in this age of cloud computing and web 2.0. … Read more »