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August 18, 2015 by Duane Morris

Student’s Internship Canceled After Exposing Facebook Privacy Issue

Many college students likely would covet an internship at Facebook. One Harvard University student landed such an internship. However, he says that the internship offer to him was rescinded by Facebook because he reportedly exposed privacy flaws in Facebook’s mobile messenger. Is that correct or not, and what lesson has been learned?

Harvard student, Aran Khanna, launched a browser application from his dorm room. The app revealed that Facebook Messenger users were able to precisely pinpoint the geographic locations of people with whom they were communicating, as reported by The Guardian. Continue reading “Student’s Internship Canceled After Exposing Facebook Privacy Issue”

June 16, 2015June 16, 2015 by Eric J. Sinrod

Facebook A Major Instant-Messaging Player

We all know that Facebook is the social networking beast – with approximately 1.4 billion users across the globe. Who doesn’t have a Facebook page? But if that were not enough, Facebook also is becoming an instant-messaging major player.

Indeed, according to CNET, Facebook Messenger already has as many as 700 million monthly users, as reported by CEO Mark Zuckerberg at a recent company annual meeting. Continue reading “Facebook A Major Instant-Messaging Player”

March 12, 2014May 20, 2016 by Eric J. Sinrod

What’s Up With Facebook’s Acquisition of WhatsApp?

WhatsApp, a messaging service that is often used for international texting and other services, is about to be gobbled up by Facebook, right?

Well, that is Facebook’s plan. Indeed, Facebook intends to fork over a hefty $19 billion to acquire WhatsApp. However, that is not the end of the story.

Continue reading “What’s Up With Facebook’s Acquisition of WhatsApp?”

February 18, 2014July 18, 2016 by Eric J. Sinrod

Is Facebook a Marriage Killer?

If you are married, you may wish to pause and consider how you behave on Facebook and other social media outlets. Why? Because as much as one-third of divorce filings in 2011 included the word “Facebook” within them, according to a report by ABCNews.com. And the numbers may be even higher a few years later.

On top of that, the article states that more than 80 percent of divorce attorneys report that social networking behavior is finding its way into divorce proceedings.

Facebook and other social media posts can be used to insinuate bad parenting, depending on the behavior displayed. They also can be referred to in an effort to suggest infidelity.

Continue reading “Is Facebook a Marriage Killer?”

September 17, 2013July 18, 2016 by Eric J. Sinrod

FTC Investigates Facebook’s Proposed Privacy Policies

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has launched an inquiry to determine whether Facebook’s recently announced privacy policies violate an agreement to obtain express consent before revealing users’ private information to new viewers.

According to The New York Times, the FTC claims Facebook’s new policies require users to provide Facebook with broad permission to utilize their personal information in advertising. Facebook has fired back, stating that this requirement comes from a class action settlement to users who were unhappy that their names and images were used in Facebook ads to shill products to their friends.

Continue reading “FTC Investigates Facebook’s Proposed Privacy Policies”

September 3, 2013July 18, 2016 by Eric J. Sinrod

The Low-Tech U.S. Supreme Court

Gone are the days of non-electronic, hard-copy communications, right? Not so fast! According to The Associated Press, the Justices of the United States Supreme Court are still very low-tech — almost to the point of being no-tech.

When communicating with each other about pending cases under consideration, the Justices tend to send each other formal memoranda printed on ivory paper. This was revealed by Justice Elena Kagan during an interview by Ted Widmer, a Brown University historian and librarian.

Continue reading “The Low-Tech U.S. Supreme Court”

May 8, 2013July 18, 2016 by Eric J. Sinrod

Worker’s Firings Over Facebook Complaints Were Improper: NLRB

In the case Design Tech. Grp. LLC d/b/a Bettie Page Clothing, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has ruled that employees of a clothing company were improperly terminated based on comments they made on Facebook complaining about their supervisor and expressing their workplace concerns.

According to the administrative law judge’s ruling, which was appealed to the NLRB, workers at Bettie Page Clothing engaged in the following exchange on Facebook:

Continue reading “Worker’s Firings Over Facebook Complaints Were Improper: NLRB”

February 5, 2013July 18, 2016 by Eric J. Sinrod

The Legal Ethics of Social Media and the Cloud

Social media no longer is the province of only those who are college-aged or younger. Indeed, businesses of all types now seek to capitalize on social media connections, and law firms are no exception. Many firms now have their own Facebook pages, for example, and many lawyers are seeking to attract attention through a variety of other social media sites such as LinkedIn and Twitter. Also, more and more, information is being stored in the cloud.

Notwithstanding this gravitational pull toward clouds and social media, lawyers need to remain mindful of ethical and practical constraints, so that they do not feel more pain than joy in this context.

Continue reading “The Legal Ethics of Social Media and the Cloud”