Vogel Internet, Information Technology and e-Discovery Blog : Texas Internet, Information Technology, eCommerce & E-Discovery Lawyer & Attorney Peter S. Vogel : Gardere Wynne Sewell Law Firm : Dallas TX

My video interview about business risks concerning Internet Privacy Policies is very timely since Google just announced a radical change in its Privacy Policies. You are welcome to view the video interview “Privacy Policies: What You Don't Know Can Hurt You” thanks to my friends at Financial Management Network (& parent SmartPros Ltd.).

Of course Privacy Policies is a common topic for me as my October 2011 monthly Technology Law column at eCommerce Times was entitled “Shore Up Your Privacy Policy Before Disaster Strikes” and included discussion about:

• What Type of Information Do Privacy Policies Protect? - Personally Identifiable Information (PII)
• Website Privacy Regulation – US (FTC), EU, Canada, and Japan
• What Should Your Privacy Policy Contain? - consider your visitors' expectations
• Aggregate Data - DoubleClick
• Consider Subscribing to Privacy Standards – TRUSTe, Better Business Bureau, Online Privacy Alliance, and CPA WebTrust Program.

Stay tuned for more blogs on Internet Privacy since it is core to business and consumer utilization of the Internet.

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Google recently announced revised Terms of Service (ToS) and Privacy Policy which go into effect on March 1, 2012. Google claims that the ToS were rewritten “to make them more readable and to reduce the repetition and legalese.” And with regards to the Privacy Policy Google stated:

We’re getting rid of over 60 different privacy policies across Google and replacing them with one that’s a lot shorter and easier to read. Our new policy covers multiple products and features, reflecting our desire to create one beautifully simple and intuitive experience across Google. 

I encourage you to read Google’s new ToS and Privacy Policies, but my personal experience is that about 1% of users actually ever bother. Please read my eCommerce Times legal columns about ToS and Privacy Policies to get a better idea how important the legal terms are.
 

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After getting a new iPhone that had test pictures inside the Chinese factory where is was made, Mike Daisey was intrigued to learn more about the individuals who actually make the Apple products (and Dell, and many others). Daisey recently told his story on This American Life radio about his trip to China to see the Foxconn plant in Shenzhen that had about 400,000 workers. He discovered that children, no more than 12 years old work on the assembly lines, slept in Foxconn dorms, and there were many suicides. Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM) have challenged Apple, and other computer companies, for abusing workers for working too many hours and using toxic chemicals among many abuses.

Daisey’s story probably helps explain why so many cell devices and computers are made in China where the laws do not protect children as SACOM claims. So it seems that modern technology is not so clean and has an uglier side that we don’t hear much about.

 

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Since WikiLeaks’ addresses were provided to Twitter, a Judge ruled that it was no longer private since the “information has already been disclosed.” On January 4, 2012 US District Judge Liam O’Grady ordered Twitter to produce WikiLeaks records as reported by Bloomberg:

Litigation of these issues has already denied the government lawful access to potential evidence for more than a year…. The public interest therefore weighs strongly against further delay.

Who do you follow on Twitter?

On Jan. 1, I found that these Twitter names had hordes of followers: @ladygaga had 17,554,645, @Starbucks had 1,927,255, and @noahkravitz had 24,273 which anyone on Twitter can view. Please read my January column in eCommerce Times about Twitter followers in the PhoneDog v. Kravitz case entitled “New Legal Challenge - Who Owns Followers on Twitter?”

Clearly Twitter information appears to not be so private or secret.
 

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BYOD has created new challenges for those employers who encourage their employees to buy their own cell phones, tablet devices, and/or computers. After a recent discussion about BYOD my good friend Galen Gruman (Executive Editor of InfoWorld for Features) posted an InfoWorld blog “Lost in BYOD's uncharted legal waters” which includes many important legal and business issues.

Before posting the blog Galen wrote an excellent 29 page report called the “BYOD and Mobile Strategy Deep Dive” which has the following summary:

iPhones, iPads, Androids, and more are joining your business's suite of technology tools, driven by user demand and need. Most companies have opened up their networks to such devices, but big questions remain on how to do so securely, how to manage the new breed of devices to ensure compliance and information security while not unduly burdening users.

A 2010 US Supreme Court 9-0 ruling declared that employees are not entitled to privacy if they use an employer’s issued device, so what level of privacy is there for BYODs? Will employees using BYODs be entitled to privacy if they are conducting business for their employers? Or will the employees using BYODs be entitled to privacy if the employer reimburses the employee for the cost(s) of the BYOD? 

Interesting questions and in the future the Courts will let us know….so stay tuned.
 

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eDiscovery has transformed litigation and required that all lawyers understand Information Technology since more than 95% of all information is now electronic. I am happy to report that staring January 9, 2012 I will begin teaching a brand new course on eDiscovery & eEvidence at the SMU Dedman School of Law in Dallas. The SMU law students will submit term papers on eDiscovery & eCommerce, and I have a number of guests who will lecture including a Texas State District Judge, former General Counsel, Chief Information Officer, and eDiscovery Professionals.

This will be my 26th year teaching as an Adjunct Professor at SMU. For the past 11 years I have taught courses on the Law of eCommerce, and while teaching that course I found that it was easier to create my own materials than rely on a casebook. I created my own materials since there are no current law casebooks on eDiscovery & eEvidence. 

I had help creating the Syllabus and planning the course from Allison O. Skinner. Allison and I co-founded the American College of eNeutrals, and she has also been an Adjunct Professor of eDiscovery at the University of Alabama School of Law and the Thomas Goode Jones School of Law, Faulkner University.

I welcome your comments about my Syllabus on my eDiscovery & eEvidence website.
 

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