Protect Yourself from Cyberflashers

August 17, 2015 by 2 Comments
Lens Flare by Lee Netherton from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

Lens Flare by Lee Netherton from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

Eww eww eww!

If you or your child has an iPhone, adjust the settings for AirDrop now to avoid being targeted by cyberflashers.

Apparently this is a thing – the default setting for AirDrop allows people in your vicinity to send you photos. It displays a small version of the image with the option to Accept or Decline. So if somebody wants to send you a picture of their junk, even if you Decline, you’ve already seen the image! That’s cyberflashing.

If you have an iPhone, please read this article from Sophos that explains step-by-step how to adjust your AirDrop settings to avoid being cyberflashed.

This is so disturbing. If your AirDrop allows anyone in the vicinity to see you, it lists to as “[First Name’s] iPhone” so the cyberflasher can target people based on their assumed gender. It doesn’t tell you anything about the recipient’s age. Indecent exposure is a crime in Arizona, and it’s a felony if you flash someone who is less than 15 years old.

Eww eww eww! It is absolutely vile and wrong to invade unsuspecting people’s iPhones (including children’s iPhones) and inflict your naked photos on them. I hope Apple realizes how wrong this is and changes the default settings on their phones.

If you want to chat more about privacy and cybersecurity, you can contact me directly or connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or LinkedIn.

Filed Under: Internet law Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Bring Back Streaking!

July 2, 2015 by Leave a Comment
John by J0NU from Flickr (Public Domain)

John by J0NU from Flickr (Public Domain)

Did you see the clip of the streaker on American Ninja Warrior?

He was pretty impressive until he was stopped by security! I was bummed to learn that this was a stunt and not a true streaker. This video made me wonder – whatever happened to streaking? I’m sure some people think it’s offensive, but I think it’s hilarious. Now that everyone has a smart phone in their purse or pocket, I suppose fewer people are inclined to strip down and run. But it still happens on occasion – i.e., Portland’s Naked Bike Ride, Bay to Breakers, etc.

In Arizona, streaking is illegal under the indecent exposure law. It is a felony if you expose yourself to a child who is under 15 years old, and you have to register as a sex offender if you commit this felony  two or more times.

Now, anyone who knows me knows that I am against the sexual abuse or sexual assault of any person, and I think it makes sense to differentiate between people who expose themselves to commit a sex crime (including flashing) and people who have other motives. When I think of “flashers,” I think of people who do what these two guys are insinuating:

In my mind, a traditional streaker has no sexual motive, but rather is violating a social norm. I have heard of other states where a public nudity is permitted as long as you are not sexually aroused, masturbating, or the like. Streaking should fall into this latter category.

Do I think the rules or going to change anytime soon? No. Arizona is a conservative state in general, and our legislature has more important issues to tackle than legalizing streaking. But it would be awesome if they did. Of course, if you are going to streak, be mindful of the likelihood that you will be videotaped or photographed while you’re doing it, and you may be at risk of being arrested for additional crimes such as trespassing and disorderly conduct.

If you want to know more about pulling off shenanigans like this legally, please check out my book Flash Mob Law, or you can contact me or connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or LinkedIn.

Filed Under: Flash Mob Law Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Summer Social Media PSA for Teens & Tweens

June 25, 2015 by 9 Comments
Texting by Jhaymesisviphotography from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

Texting by Jhaymesisviphotography from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

Summer is officially here! It’s hottest than Hades in Phoenix and the kids are out of school until August. I suspect that a lot of teens and tweens have a lot more free time than during the school year and they might be spending much of it glued to their cell phones and tablets. Here are my recommendations for having a summer without social media-based regrets:

Think before you post.

Think before you text.

Think before you chat.

Think before you tweet.

Think before you snap (a photo).

Think before you shoot (a video).

Think before you send (anything).

Remember, that there is a permanent record of everything post online or send to another person. You never know when someone is going to forward, download, screenshot what you thought was only going out to a small group or contained in a person-to-person communication. What you post or send doesn’t have the same emotional impact when we can’t hear the inflection in your voice or facial expression (especially sarcasm). You never know how a post will be interpreted out of context. What you thought was justified or funny in the moment may have long-term effects for you. (Just ask Justine Sacco – with one tweet she lost her job and appeared to anger the entire planet.)

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These are my two rules of thumb regarding the internet:

  1. Don’t post anything online that you wouldn’t put on the front page of the newspaper.
  2. Assume everything you post online will be seen by four people: your best friend, your worst enemy, your boss, and your mother. If you don’t want someone to see what you’re thinking about posting, don’t put it out there.

These rules also apply to emails and text messages.

For anyone who is applying for jobs or college, those decision makers may be looking you up online. You want to be sure that what you post online is congruent with how you present yourself in-person or on paper. You don’t want to appear irresponsible or that you lack good judgement.

I’ve had to read the riot act to a teen who misbehaved online, and I would be happy to do it again if it means I can help prevent someone from posting something they’ll regret later. If you want to chat more about social media dos and don’ts, please contact me or connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or LinkedIn.

Filed Under: Internet law Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Dislike or Defamation – Rules about Online Reviews

May 21, 2015 by Leave a Comment
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jesper/269194762

John and Jesper | Thumbs Down by Jesper Rønn-Jensen from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

When it comes to online review sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor, it may be difficult to do to determine when a reviewer is a legally sharing their dissatisfaction about you and when they are out-and-out defaming you. The former is legally protected speech that requires damage control; and the latter may require a cease-and-desist letter or a lawsuit.

One of the best things of out the Internet is that it gives Joe Average people a platform to share their thoughts. Review sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor let multiple people share their experiences with a business that others can read and the business owners can respond to reviews within this forum. They can give you an idea of what to expect before you arrive and whether a particular place will fulfill your needs or expectations. I find it highly valuable, and when I’m satisfied with the service I received from a company, I often asked them where I can leave positive feedback for them online.

When a company sucks, I don’t hesitate to share those thoughts either. I believe that friends don’t give friends bad referrals, and that there is no problem with calling out a business that does a particularly bad job. But there is a right way and a wrong way to do it.

1. Stick to the Facts: Unless you have a nondisclosure agreement that prevents you from sharing in your experience, there shouldn’t be a problem if you simply state the facts of your experience – i.e., the delivery people were 2 hours late, your food was cold when it arrived, the clerk apologized for not having the item you wanted.

2. Share your Feelings: Share how you felt during the experience – you were pleased that the restaurant comped the meal that you sent back, you were angry that you missed an appointment while you were waiting for the delivery guys, you were shocked that the clerk stared at your chest instead of looking you in the eye when he/she spoke to you.

3. Be Accurate: Federal law requires you to be truthful and accurate when giving a review. Avoid half-truths and insinuations. There should be no doubt in the reader’s mind between what you wrote and what you meant. This law also requires you to disclose when you are compensated for providing your opinion – such as getting free products or paid for providing a review. (The penalty for violating this rule is a fine for up to $11,000.)

In general, be thoughtful about what you post online and reading each review carefully before you hit “post” or “save.” If you are making a statement that sounds like a fact, make sure that it is verifiable. So that means you can’t say that a particular restaurant gave you food poisoning unless you can present hard evidence (like a doctor’s note) that that particular meal is what made you sick. Otherwise, you might be better off calling or email laying the manager directly and explaining that you were sick shortly after eating at that restaurant and that they might want to make sure all employees are complying with the rules to avoid food borne illnesses.

If you believe and online review may have crossed the line from expressing dissatisfaction to defaming a person or the company, contact a social media attorney to review the situation and advise you of your options. With so many people sharing their opinions and experiences on a multitude of platforms, this is an issue that is not going away any time soon. If you want to talk more about this topic, please contact me directly or connect with me on social media via Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or LinkedIn.

Filed Under: Internet law Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

What’s Up with the Cactus-Cams in Paradise Valley?

May 12, 2015 by 2 Comments
Four Peaks Seen Through Cactus Goal Posts by Alan Levine from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

Four Peaks Seen Through Cactus Goal Posts by Alan Levine from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

If you’re at an intersection in Paradise Valley and you see a saguaro cactus that looks fake, it probably is.

Paradise Valley recently installed three fake cacti that contain cameras that will be snapping photos of every license plate that goes by. Ken Burke, Paradise Valley’s City Manager said the images will be compared against the “hot list” which includes cars that are reported stolen or part in Amber Alerts. The city said the images that are not connect to any investigations will be destroyed after 180 days.

I’m a bit skeptical of this reasoning for the cameras. According to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, vehicle thefts have been steadily declining in recent years. And according to the official Amber Alert website, there was only 1 Amber Alert in Arizona in 2011, the most recent year for which a report was released. I wonder if they installed them to search for cars that are related to crimes or people with warrants.

And what about privacy? The law has firmly established that you have no expectation of privacy in anything you do in public, including where you go in your car. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the police need a warrant to put a GPS on your vehicle. Snapping your photo every time you drive through a particular intersection isn’t as extreme as tracking your every move, but it could be used to track patterns of behavior.

On its face, this looks like a waste of time and money, but I would be curious to hear an update about these cameras in six months. I would want to know how many crimes they’ve helped solve and if they’re being used for additional tasks.

Privacy issues aren’t going away any time soon. If you want to chat more about this topic, please contact me directly or connect with me on social media via Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or LinkedIn.

Filed Under: Internet law, News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Does Your Business Need Cyber Liability Insurance?

February 17, 2015 by 4 Comments
Guilty Viewing Pleasures: Hackers by Ingrid Richter from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

Guilty Viewing Pleasures: Hackers by Ingrid Richter from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

Anthem Health Insurance was victim the latest cyber attack to hit the news. Approximately 80 million customers’ health records were compromised by this security breach. When you hear about these hacking stories, do they make you wonder about your company’s security system? Do you assume that you probably have nothing to worry about because hackers are only interested in big companies like Target?

I attended a workshop last month about cyber liability insurance where the presenter said that a 2011 study revealed that 95% of all credit card breaches were against small businesses. We only tend to hear about the security breaches involving bigger companies but any size company could be at risk. Data breaches can occur through hacking, theft by unauthorized access , employee errors, and stolen or lost paper or electronic files, laptops, smartphones, flash drives.

Any business that handles or stores private business, customer, or employee data should consider getting insurance to cover them if a data breach occurs. This data includes social security numbers, bank account information, credit card numbers, driver’s license numbers, and email address. Additionally, you should take a look at your company’s policies and procedures related to data security. Are you taking the following precautions?

  • Secure sensitive data
  • Restrict access to data
  • Dispose of data properly – i.e., wipe laptops before donating them, shred paper files
  • Use effective passwords
  • Use encryption and secure remote access
  • Make sure your employees understand how to protect data and why it’s important

There are many benefits of having cyber liability insurance. Your provider should offer risk management services to help prevent a data breach from occurring. If a breach occurs, they will can professional assistance for damage control and regulatory compliance as well as cover the response expenses for mailing notification letters, credit monitoring services, and public relations. Your cyber liability insurance policy can also cover your defense and liability expenses if you are sued because of the breach.

This is a serious issue that can affect any company that uses the internet for business or commerce. If you have a traditional business liability insurance policy, read the terms carefully; it may not cover cyber liability. If you need a cyber liability insurance policy, contact a cyber liability insurance specialist to discuss your needs and options.

If you have questions or want to chat more about these issues, feel free to connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or you can send me an email.

Filed Under: Business Law, Internet law Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Man Convicted of Running a Revenge Porn Site – What This Means For You

February 10, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Cell Block D by Sean Toyer from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

Cell Block D by Sean Toyer from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

Last week a San Diego court convicted 28 year-old Kevin Bollaert of 27 felony charges including identity theft and extortion for running multiple revenge porn websites. He could face up to 20 years in prison. Here’s how the sites worked: people would post nude photos of their former lovers (often with the victim’s name, city, and a link to their Facebook profile) and the victims could get the images removed, if they paid a fee. These sites have since been taken down.

Prosecutors described Bollaert’s sites as a business based on blackmail. At the trial, several victims testified that they were humiliated and faced other repercussions because their images were posted on these sites without their consent. This appears to be the first conviction for an operator of a revenge porn website, but hopefully it will not be the last. The article did not state whether any of the people who posted the revenge porn images in question have also faced criminal charges or civil lawsuits.

This case should serve as a warning to anyone who is operating a similar website. If you encourage people to post revenge porn and charging the people in the images to get them removed, there is now legal president that this is a type of extortion.

This is also a legal gray area. It’s one thing to create a platform where people can post images and stories on your site, activities that are often protected by the First Amendment and copyright laws; but the person creating the posts could cross the line into invasion of privacy, cyberharassment, and revenge porn depending on the material posted. Depending on the circumstances, the owner of the site could also face criminal or civil liability, but often times simply providing a platform is not enough to hold the site’s owner responsible for what other’s posts unless there is additional evidence that implicates them.

I’ve been getting more questions recently about people who are being threatened with revenge porn where the image or video hasn’t been posted yet. Sometimes I’m unsure if it’s a situation where the would-be poster is saying, “I’m going to post your nude photos online” or trying to use the images as way to manipulate the person by saying, “If you don’t do XYZ, I’m going to post your nude photos online.” I’m conversing with the Phoenix Police Department about this issue to better advise my clients who are in this situation.

If you suspect you’re the victim of revenge porn, call your local law enforcement agency. I do not blame the victims in these situations, but I caution people, especially young people to think before they create or send sexually explicit material. If any of this content is released on the internet, you have no control over who might see it, share it, download it and even if you can get the original removed, it could still be out there on other sites. When in doubt, don’t send naked selfies, take intimate photos in the bedroom, or create sex videos. If you’re thinking about posting revenge porn, don’t.

If you have questions or want to chat more about these issues, feel free to connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or you can send me an email.

Filed Under: Internet law Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

New Trial in Crystal Cox Defamation Case – What Does It Mean for Bloggers?

February 20, 2014 by 1 Comment
First Amendment to the US Constitution by elPadawan from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

First Amendment to the US Constitution by elPadawan from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that Crystal Cox will get a new trial for the defamation lawsuit that was filed against her. Cox calls herself an “investigative blogger” and she wrote a blog post where she accused Oregon bankruptcy attorney Kevin Padrick and his company, Obsidian Finance Group LLC of committing “fraud, corruption, money-laundering and other illegal activities.” Padrick sued Cox for defamation and an Oregon court awarded him $2.5 million in damages.

In general, defamation requires a false statement about a person communicated to a third party that hurts that person’s reputation. Based on this definition, it’s easy to see how a blogger could be accused of defamation if someone suspects the blogger is lying about them in a post. The court applies different standards for different situations involving situations which will affect whether the author has committed defamation and what damages can be awarded.

A court may award compensatory damages to make up for the person’s damaged reputation and punitive damages to punish the person who committed the defamation.

Here are the three standards that can apply in a defamation case.

  • Defamation of a public person: The alleged victim must prove that the author knew or should have known they were lying when they made the statement in question – only compensatory damages available.
  • Defamation of a private person regarding a manner of public concern: Punitive damages are available in addition to compensatory damages if the alleged victim can prove that the author was negligent in making the statement.
  • Defamation of a private person regarding a matter that is not of public concern: Compensatory and punitive damages are available if the alleged victim can show that the statement was false and damaged their reputation.

It appears the lower court applied the standard for defamation of a private person regarding a matter that is not of public concern and the court of appeals ruled that they should have used the standard for defamation of a private person regarding a manner of public concern because the public has an interest regarding whether an attorney is corrupt and committing fraud. So the parties will have to settle the case between themselves or have a new trial and use the correct standard. But note, there is no dispute about whether the statement in question was defamatory, only what standard the court is supposed to use to decide the case.

Some people are calling this ruling a huge victory for bloggers because it states that the same defamation standards for journalists apply to blogging – and I’m going to respectfully disagree.  The landmark defamation cases may have started with journalists, but we don’t have different defamation laws for journalists and everyone else. (If this were a Shield Law case, it would be different.) There have been other defamation cases against non-journalists where the court applied the same standards. The fact that this might be the first time a court has said that bloggers can write about matters of public concern is an indicator of how few defamation cases go to trial more than anything else. No real new information has come out of this ruling by the Ninth Circuit.

This case is a good reminder about where you can be sued because of your blog. If you do something wrong via your blog and you get sued, the alleged victim is going to sue you in their state and under their state’s laws. In this case, Cox was living in Montana when she made the original statements and she had to travel to Oregon to defend herself under Oregon’s laws.

If you want more information about internet defamation, please check out my book, The Legal Side of Blogging: How Not to get Sued, Fired, Arrested, or Killed. It has an entire chapter dedicated to online defamation. You can connected with me on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, or you can email me. You can also subscribe to the Carter Law Firm newsletter.
Please visit my homepage for more information about Carter Law Firm.

Filed Under: Internet law, Legalities of Blogging Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Should You Blog About Your Crimes?

September 26, 2013 by 4 Comments
Crime Scene by Alan Cleaver from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

Crime Scene by Alan Cleaver from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

Recently I had an interesting conversation with my friend Joe Manna. He wanted to write a blog pot about his experience driving a Prius and he had concerns about disclosing the fact that he was speeding – not just a little over the limit, but driving over 100 mph.

Luckily under the law the burden is on the prosecution to build a case against you. As far as we know, no one from law enforcement saw him speeding and we really don’t know which city/county he was in when this occurred, or even if he was in California or Arizona. Frankly all we have is his claim that he was speeding and anyone who’s ever heard a fishing story knows how much someone’s word can be taken at face value. As far as I know there’s no physical evidence of what actually happened.

Joe’s question brought up a good point – be careful about what you post online and aware of what others post about you. If you disclose that you committed a crime and post videos or pictures from it, that could be evidence that could be used against you.

Think about all the stories you’ve heard about burglars that were caught after they took pictures of themselves with their loot and high school pranksters who took pictures of themselves doing their senior prank or stealing their rival’s mascot.  They were busted in part due to their own stupidity.

This is one of the risks we take in the flash mob world. After each event, we post the blog, photos, and video from the flash mob so people can enjoy our shenanigans. If we did anything illegal during the flash mob, we just admitted it and probably gave law enforcement the evidence they need to prosecute us.

So does Joe have anything to worry about? Probably not. The worst thing he probably has to worry about is he’s put the police on notice that he speeds so maybe the cops in his neighborhood might pay a bit more attention to him when they see him out and about.

Can you blog about your crimes? Of course! Should you? That’s a different question. Think hard about the potential consequences of the post before you tell the internet-accessible world about your wrongdoings. You never know where that information will end up and what those people will do with it.

If you want more information on this topic, please check out my books The Legal Side of Blogging: How Not to get Sued, Fired, Arrested, or Killed and Flash Mob Law: The Legal Side of Planning and Participating in Pillow Fights, No Pants Rides, and Other Shenanigans.

You can connect with me on Twitter, Google+, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, or you can email me.
You can also subscribe to the Carter Law Firm newsletter.
Please visit my homepage for more information about Carter Law Firm.

Filed Under: Flash Mob Law, Internet law Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

New & Improved – The Legal Side of Blogging: How Not to get Sued, Fired, Arrested, or Killed

August 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment

LSB - option 3In case you haven’t heard the news, the revision of my ebook The Legal Side of Blogging: How Not to get Sued, Fired, Arrested, or Killed, is out and available in the Kindle Store!  (For those of you who don’t have a Kindle, there are free Kindle apps that will let you download and read it on your phone, tablet, and even your desktop computer.)

I love blogging. I love that every week I get to stand on my digital soapbox and pontificate about anything I want. (Don’t you just love the word “pontificate?”) Early on in my writing career a journalist friend told me that a journalist’s job is to “Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” That has become my motto as well. I love that I get to write things that other people are thinking but maybe don’t have the guts to say themselves. I find it validating when people do that for me and I’m happy to pay it forward for others.

ruthcover smallerOf course when you’re an outspoken blogger and a law student (now a lawyer), you start asking a lot of questions about what you can say without getting into trouble. That led to me to writing a blog series about the legal side of blogging, taking a class on cyberspace law where I wrote a paper on the topic, and eventually this book. When you have a blog, you have an obligation to know how far you can push the envelope without crossing the line. And then when people get pissed at you because of a post, there’s often nothing they can do about it because you’ve done nothing wrong.  The law rarely gives you any type of recourse just because someone made you sad.

I wasn’t planning on writing a revision of my ebook so soon, but a conversation with the Copyright Office earlier this year forced my hand.  Apparently the word “published” had different meaning to normal rational people and the Copyright Office so I had to revise my chapter on copyright registration and I’m even more convinced that the Copyright Act needs a complete overhaul because it makes no sense when it comes to a lot of material that is only released on the internet.

Since I was doing revisions, I also added a section about anti-SLAPP laws too. SLAPP stands for strategic lawsuit against public participation. This is the type of counterclaim you can file when someone files a lawsuit against you because of your blog in an effort to shut you up. We don’t like it when people sue people just because they don’t like what they have to say but what they’re saying is not illegal.

I hope you enjoy The Legal Side of Blogging: How Not to get Sued, Fired, Arrested, or Killed and recommend it to all your friends who are active on social media. I wrote this book with bloggers in mind but the lessons apply equally well to all types of social media.

You can connect with me on Twitter, Google+, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, or you can email me.
You can also subscribe to the Carter Law Firm newsletter.
Please visit my homepage for more information about Carter Law Firm.

Filed Under: Internet law, Legalities of Blogging, News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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