Expect the Celebrity Nude Photo Hacker to be Prosecuted Under CFAA–Just Like Revenge-Porn King Hunter Moore

How will the "hacker" who stole celebrity nude photos be prosecuted? Hacking is nothing new, scores of American businesses face it everyday. People could care less unless it is their own data that has been breached. But, when celebrities are involved -- and nude photos of celebrities at that -- it is a much different story.Now …

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Yes, an Employee Really Can Steal Your Data and Then SLAPP You for It?

Yes, in California it just happened!The fact that this happened in California should be of no comfort to Texas businesses, however, because the Texas Anti-SLAPP law comes from California and, therefore, California jurisprudence is considered persuasive authority in Texas. This means that in the not so distant future Texas employees could steal their employers’ data and …

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ISIS Selfies Demonstrate the Connection Between Social Media and Business Situational Awareness

What is Situational Awareness?A Navy SEAL describes situational awareness in this way: "[i]n military-speak, situational awareness is defined as the ability to identify, process, and comprehend the critical elements of information about what is happening to the team with regard to a mission. More simply, it's being aware of what is going on around you." (SEAL …

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Excellent Information = 5 Easy Ways to Get Sued Over Online Content & Social Media

My friend Deb McAlister is a professional writer who has been writing about law and technology issues since before most of us had even considered putting the two words together in the same sentence. The following article is one that she wrote on practical social media legal issues -- social media law -- and while …

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Social Media Law Presentation Slides for MENG Webinar

I recently had the pleasure of presenting a nationally broadcast webinar on social media law to MENG (Marketing Executives Networking Group) which is a national network of top-level marketing executives. You can learn more about MENG by visiting its website and you can learn more about my presentation by visiting MENG's webpage promoting the webinar. Thanks to the hard …

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Supreme Court: Private Information Is Worthy of Protection, Even on Cell Phones

In Riley v. California the Supreme Court made it clear that people's private information is worthy of protection, even on their cell phones, in holding that cell phones are generally protected from searches without a warrant.  The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that police cannot go snooping through people’s cell phones without a warrant, in a unanimous …

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Social Media Evidence From Facebook Used Get to Get Rape, Sodomy, Domestic Violence Charges Dismissed

Do you remember the reason I gave you yesterday, when I blogged about why you cannot delete social media posts or accounts once you anticipate you will be in a lawsuit? (see Do Not Delete Relevant Social Media Accounts or Posts During Lawsuits > Spoliation of Evidence) That's right, because "the law has a right to …

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Do Not Delete Relevant Social Media Accounts or Posts During Lawsuits > Spoliation of Evidence

"The law has a right to every man's evidence." The old saying means that when you are in possession of something that could be used as evidence, and you anticipate that you are going to be involved in a lawsuit that may have even a tangential relationship to that evidence, you have a duty to preserve …

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Beckett Media Files Two “Data Scraping” Cases in Northern District of Texas – Will the CFAA Claims Survive?

Beckett Media recently filed two cases in the Northern District of Texas that allege violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1030 (the CFAA). Just a few months ago I blogged about how Texas is a favorable jurisdiction for plaintiffs to bring CFAA claims (Yes, Texas is a good state for plaintiffs …

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3 Important Questions the State Attorneys General Will Ask Your Company Following A Data Breach

In an earlier blog post I wrote about how [w]hen your company has a data breach, these are the top 3 questions that you will be required to answer: How did the breach happen? What steps did your company take before the breach to protect the data and keep it from happening? What steps is …

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