Author Archives: Shawn E. Tuma

Executives of Public Companies Must Use Caution With Social Media – The SEC is Watching!

Are statements made by executives of publicly traded companies via social media held to the same standard as statements they make in any other limited environment when it comes to material information about the company? Absolutely, here is why …  Just this past week news broke that the Securities and Exchange Commission is considering bringing a …

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Lawsuit Over Ownership of Former Employee’s Twitter Followers Settled: PhoneDog v. Kravitz

If you have been in any of the seminars where I have presented on social media law, you have heard me say “an ounce of prevention is cheaper than the first day of litigation.” Right? Well it is true, and the context in which I said that is in reference to the lawsuit PhoneDog v. …

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In the spirit of the Season, I am re-blogging this post – enjoy!

How a simple calendar – Zig Ziglar’s calendar – helped change my life. Thank you Zig!

In 1990, my Mom gave me one of those tear-off calendars for one of my Christmas gifts and, to be painfully honest, it didn’t mean much to me at all … at the time. The calendar was Zig Ziglar’s 365 Secrets for Success 1991 Calendar and, if you knew me back in 1990 (or knew of me), you …

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Fifth Circuit Finds Company Not Liable for Alleged Violations of CFAA and ECPA by Its Regional Manager

Do alleged violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Stored Communications Act, and Wiretap Act committed by a company’s Regional Manager make the company liable? No, as long as the Regional Manager was not acting on behalf of the company. On October 19, 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit …

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Beware of this PayPal Spear Phishing Scam – I Just Got One!

There is a bogus email going around purporting to be from PayPal notifying you of charges that you did not authorize. Of course it has a “helpful” link for you to click and cancel the charges. But can you guess what happens if you click the link? You can try it but I’m not going …

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Texas’ Amended Data Breach Notification Law

Texas amended its existing data breach notification law which became effective on September 1, 2012. The relevant section of the law is titled “Notification Required Following Breach of Security of Computerized Data” and is found at Section 521.053 of the Texas Business and Commerce Code. The main body of the law provides as follows: (b)  A …

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Ninth Circuit Upholds $9.5 Million Facebook Privacy Settlement

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the $9.5 million settlement of a class action lawsuit. The lawsuit that included, among other things, claims for violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, was based on assertions by Facebook users that, through its Beacon Program, Facebook violated their privacy by sharing on …

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4 Takeaways From A Really Easy Computer Fraud And Abuse Act Case

4 Practical Takeaways: A “protected computer” is any computer connected to the Internet. The $5,000 loss requirement can be aggregated and need not be met by only one single act. Lost revenue is a “loss” if it was caused by an interruption of service because the computers failed. Observation of data alone constitutes “obtaining information”. …

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