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Posts Tagged ‘Social Media Law’

The Legal Guide to Social Media is finally available for pre-order

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on October 17, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Despite the enormous growth in social media, scant legal advice is available to help the many people who are posting online. Easy-to-understand, comprehensive, and current, Legal Guide to Social Media provides the latest information on case law and statutes. It covers everything from privacy laws to copyright issues to how to respond to employers’ requests for your social media passwords. This plain English legal companion offers examples of and solutions to the kinds of situations you can expect to encounter when posting online content, whether for personal enjoyment or on behalf of an employer. You’ll learn how to avoid liability for defamation and third-party posts, the legalities of copying and linking to content, how to protect your own content, and much, much more. http://www.kimberlyahouser.com

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$250,000 fine for fake reviews

Posted in Internet Law, tagged , , on April 19, 2011| 10 Comments »

On March 15, 2011, the FTC reported that it entered into the first settlement agreement under the new FTC Guidelines prohibiting fake reviews. Essentially, the Guidelines provide that when someone posts a positive review of a service or product and that person is either connected to the seller receives some sort of compensation for the positive review, the “material connection” between the reviewer and the seller of the product or service must be disclosed. In this case, Legacy Learning, a company which provides guitar lessons on DVDs, had an affiliate review program which compensated bloggers and other online publishers for posting positive reviews about its program. The company agreed to pay a $250,000 penalty for its actions.

I wonder if the FTC is monitoring amazon.com. I was just reading recently about an author who was artificially inflating his sales ratings by buying his own book and posting fake positive reviews. Not only is this morally reprehensible, but it also violates the “new” FTC Guidelines which went into effect in December 2009. I wonder how many businesses engage in this conduct – posting fake reviews on sites like angieslist.com and urbanspoon.com?

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