It started with e-mail. In the 90s, courts began requesting copies of e-mails for use in court cases.
(prHWY.com) November 7, 2011 - New York City, NY -- It started with e-mail. In the 90s, courts began requesting copies of e-mails for use in court cases. This process, called "discovery," had previously only applied to paper documents, including faxes, memos, and letters. Once electronic communication became part of the discovery cases, the rules changed.
As
e-discovery software expert Dean Kuhlmann pointed out to FierceContentManagement, e-mail proved to be more perilous than traditional documents like memos and letters. People tend to be more casual in electronic interactions, Kuhlmann said, whereas traditional business interactions were more formal and guarded.
Now social media enters the discovery arena, as courts rule that posts to sites such as Facebook and Twitter can be used in cases, with members giving up privacy by virtue of posting so publicly. Even if your social media pages are only shared with a few friends, courts can still pull information from them. More and more judges are requesting login information from those involved in litigation, with photos, status updates, and even personal messages potentially up for grabs.
How does this affect your business? Even if your business has strict security policies in place banning social media use at work, this still may not cover you legally. If employees, for instance, discuss company business on personal social media pages, the company will likely not even know about those conversations. But they still can be pulled for litigation, experts warn.
One area where social media is getting a great deal of use in discovery is in cases where injury victims are caught doing things an injured person wouldn't do. In several cases, insurance companies have won because victims who were supposedly too damaged to get out of bed were pictured on social media sites skating, doing yard work, and even playing sports.
And if you think deleting your social media sites will keep them from being used against you, think again. Courts can obtain deleted data from social media companies, including photos and status updates. In many cases, such discovery involves complicated legal action and expense that many attorneys aren't willing to endure, but be aware it is possible before you post.
If you're an employer concerned about comments from your employees about workplace issues, be aware that many of these types of cases are protected under freedom of speech. Unless your company has a social media policy or confidentiality agreement, your attempts at legal action may inevitably be futile.
Still, it can't hurt to take a few steps to protect yourself. Since everything is discoverable once posted, stay away from posting potentially damaging information in the first place. Be aware that everything you are posting on the Internet is public, even if your social media pages are set to private. And for businesses, consider coming up with a social media policy for all of your employees to review and sign. This post on Social Media Law News may help. Educating employees and having them work with you on building your company's online reputation may be the best way to combat social media problems.
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