abusive content & privacy/security breaches: best practices for response and prevention

STIKEMAN ELLIOTT LLP | ROGERS COMMUNICATIONS

Abusive Content and Privacy/Security Breaches:Best Practices for Responseand PreventionManaging Legal and Business Risks in Social Media, The Canadian Institute

Kelly Zalec, Rogers CommunicationsDavid Elder, Stikeman ElliottApril 15, 2011Toronto


What is Abusive Content?

Sexual content

Violent or repulsive content

Hateful or abusive content

Harmful dangerous acts

Infringes rights of others/violates the law– Copyright, defamation, privacy, fraud…

Impersonation

Spam, viruses, phishing


Where is abusive content displayed?

Website or blog comments/discussion threads

Postings, Feeds (FB, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.)

Email

Newsgroups, chat rooms, bulletin boards


Who posts abusive content?

Employees

Competitors

Fraudsters

Customers

Vandals, Crazies


Why should you care?

Brand and reputational damage – customer alienation

Loss of IP rights

Lose focus and utility of social media initiative

Civil liability

Criminal liability


Consequences & Liabilities

Privacy/data breach– Notification requirements

– Complaint, injunction, public shaming, damages

– Breach of contract

Defamation, intellectual property infringement

Child pornography, hate propaganda, deceptive marketing practices, etc.

Insurance increasingly available


Who ya gonna call?

Police

Cybertip.ca

Copyright owner/collective

Trademark owner

ISP or social net provider

Your lawyer…

Act quickly…


What happens next

Preserve “evidence”; move off public thread – but don’t delete!

Preservation, production requirements for child pornon “Internet service providers”

Preservation, production orders and requests on TSPsre spam


Who was that masked man?

Anonymous, pseudonymous, falsified posts common

Prevention: registration/moderation

Investigation: seek Norwich order to reveal identity


The “Norwich” Order

Pre-action discovery mechanism

Compels a third party to provide info

5 Elements to be established:– Valid bona fide claim

– Third party somehow involved

– 3rd party only practical source

– Balance of convenience

– Interests of justice


Action Plan

1. Follow the policies and protocols you have already established within your organization (see prevention techniques/best practices)

2. Act promptly

3. Be transparent

4. Be honest

5. Be conversational, personal and direct


Best Practices & Prevention

Consider the value/purpose of social media to your business

Don’t start with the tool (we MUST be on Twitter because everyone else is) but rather the goal (we want to help customers understand our product/service)



Develop appropriate social media policies and protocols

Provide training

Plan for the worst and expect the best



Review the guidelines (if any) of the 3rd party tools/platforms you are using Provide training

Hire someone to oversee the organization’s social media presence

Make sure this person/team is connected to the rest of the key stakeholders within the organization (PR, Legal, Marketing, Senior Leadership etc.)



Control the brand message to the extent possible

Consider pre-moderating content on your own forums/pages

Monitor how your brand is discussed on 3rd party blogs/forums

Communicate with bloggers (i.e. pitch them with the right information or clarify by responding to inaccurate posts)


QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

David Elder [email protected]

Kelly [email protected]

abusive content & privacy/security breaches: best practices for response and prevention

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