The Dark Side of Social Media: Legal Issues Legal Aspects of Abuse and Misuse of Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) Final project of Legal Aspects of Information Systems courses By mprabuw & Said Altinsik

1. The Dark Side of
Social Media: Legal Issues
2012
Image taken from:
http://www.instantshift.com/2010/05/19/socialclean-free-social-network-icons/
Muhamad Prabu Wibowo
Said Altınşık

2. CONTENTS
Introduction: What is Social Media? How can it brings Legal Issues to the
Society?
Legal Issues in Social Media: What are the Legal Issues on Social Media?
What Users, Developers, and Regulation Makers to minimize the risks?
Conclusions
CONTENTS

3. Social Media: Features, Users, Useful Use, and the Misuse
INTRODUCTION

4. Social Media
“A group of Internet-based applications that
build on the ideological and technological
foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the
creation and exchange of User Generated
Content.” (Kaplan and Heinlein (2008)).
“Any online service or site that focuses on
building social networks or relations among
people who share interests.” (Venezia (2012))

5. Categorization of Social Media
Kaplan and Heinlein (2008) classified Social Media
in
schemes:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Collaborative Projects (e.g. Wikipedia®),
Blogs (e.g. Blogger®),
Content Communities (e.g. YouTube®),
Social Networking Sites (e.g. Facebook®),
Virtual Game Worlds (World of Warcraft®),
Virtual Social Worlds (Second Life®).
6

6. Focused on Social Media Sites
• Microblogging (Twitter®)
• Social networking (LinkedIn®, Facebook®)
• Social bookmarking (Del.icio.us®,
StumbleUpon®)
• Social News (Digg®, Reddit®)
• Multimedia (Flickr®, YouTube®)
Image taken from:
http://simekonelove.deviantart.com/art/Neon-Social-Media-Buttons-174489616/

7. Features of Social Media
Tools/Services for:
• Visible profile interface and its personal information.
• List of connections/Contacts.
• Content participation (sharing, commenting, and
posting something).
• Communication (Chat with other users/connections).
• Finding information.
• Privacy control.
All the contents are generated
by Users.

8. Characteristics of Users
• Trust the services and its Users.
• Peer pressure (people expect to get more by
sharing).
• Attitudes towards privacy (Relaxed and
Narrow view to the privacy risks).
• Signaling to others.
• Encouraged by the design (user interface).

9. The Use of Social Media
• Customer
Relationship
• Ease of
Communication
• Ease of Sharing
• Collaboration
Working
Users
+
Abuse &
Misuse
Social Media
+ Features
Useful
Use
• Privacy &
Content
Ownership
and Control
• Intellectual
Property and
Third Party
Content
• Criminal
Activities
• Defamation
• Misconduct in
Employment
Practices and
Professional
Ethics
• Users
• Developers
• Regulation
Makers

10. 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Privacy & Content Ownership and Control
Intellectual Property and Third Party Content
Criminal Activities
Defamation
Misconduct in Employment Practices and Professional Ethics
5 LEGAL ISSUES ON SOCIAL MEDIA

11. PRIVACY & CONTENT OWNERSHIP
AND CONTROL

12. Privacy
• Privacy is described as the condition of being private and
secret
• Basically privacy rights are protected by the laws,
• but countries differ in their privacy policies, especially
regarding our issue, for the collection and usage of private
data by social network sites.
• Companies must notify consumers before collecting their data,
and people have the right to obtain and correct copies of their
information.
• And also you have to have ‘right to be forgotten’ option.
• But do you know what Facebook knows about you?

13. What Facebook knows about you?
• Thanks to Max Schrems, he managed to get a full copy of
his personal information,
• Schrems was surprised to discover, among the 1,222 pages
of data covering three years of Facebook activity,
–
–
–
–
deleted wall posts and messages,
Very sensitive personal information,
e-mail addresses he’d deleted
names he’d removed from his friends list.
• Additionaly Facebook also keeps information about
– IP addresses andGeographic locations of your accesses
– Your visits to any webpage that contains ‘like’ button, even if
you do not have a facebook account.
• “..no government or corporation has ever managed to
gather such a huge amount of personal and often highly
sensitive data”

14. Are you aware of this tool?

15. Be Careful about What You Post
• Your posts can appear in the public domain, though you
think them of private.
• Case: Sarah Baskerville sended a tweet to her 700
followers, but her tweet was published by two newspapers
in the following day.
• She complained that this information was private and
intented to be sent only to friends.
• Newspaper argue that her account was publicly accessible
and she did not tweet anonymously
• Press Compliant Commision decided that the message was
public and there were no problem with publicizing it.

16. Important Remarks
• Configure the privacy settings.
– Almost 13 Million user did not even know the
privacy tools of Facebook.
– 28% of Facebook users shared all their posts to
audiences wider than their friends.
– Friends of Friends may reach thousands in
numbers.
• Pay attention to applications; even if you
restrict access to your data, some applications
might disclose them.

17. Who owns the content you provide?
• You or the web Site, and what happens after you
unsubscribe?
• Sites differ in their terms, check their content
ownership policies.
– E.g. Linkedin claims full ownership, full right; twitter no
ownership
• Facebook removed one sentence from its terms,
stating that its users’ license grant to Facebook for user
content automatically expired when the user removed
the content.
• It caused great uproar, Facebook re-added the
sentence.

18. Case Example
• Posting photos or videos of people without their
permission ends up with violation of privacy
• In 2008, A paramedic in the UK working for North
East Ambulance Service was fired after he posted
the photo of a patient to Facebook.
• The court decided that it was a breach of patient
confidentiality and privacy, even he did not give
the patient’s name
Source: Social Media and Privacy, by John R. Clark

19. 2. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
INFRINGEMENT

20. İNTERNET ORTAMINDA YAPILAN YAYINLARIN DÜZENLENMESİ VE BU
YAYINLAR YOLUYLA İŞLENEN SUÇLARLA MÜCADELE EDİLMESİ HAKKINDA
KANUN
•
•
•
•
•
•
İÇERİK SAĞLAYICININ SORUMLULUĞU
Madde 4 - (1) İçerik sağlayıcı, internet ortamında kullanıma sunduğu her
türlü içerikten sorumludur.
(2) İçerik sağlayıcı, bağlantı sağladığı başkasına ait içerikten sorumlu
değildir. Ancak, sunuş biçiminden, bağlantı sağladığı içeriği benimsediği ve
kullanıcının söz konusu içeriğe ulaşmasını amaçladığı açıkça belli ise genel
hükümlere göre sorumludur.
YER SAĞLAYICININ YÜKÜMLÜLÜKLERİ
Madde 5 - (1) Yer sağlayıcı, yer sağladığı içeriği kontrol etmek veya
hukuka aykırı bir faaliyetin söz konusu olup olmadığını araştırmakla
yükümlü değildir.
(2) Yer sağlayıcı, yer sağladığı hukuka aykırı içerikten, ceza sorumluluğu
ile ilgili hükümler saklı kalmak kaydıyla, bu Kanunun 8 inci ve 9 uncu
maddelerine göre haberdar edilmesi halinde ve teknik olarak imkân
bulunduğu ölçüde hukuka aykırı içeriği yayından kaldırmakla yükümlüdür.

21. Copyright in Social Media
• Copyright protection law applies also for your
posts in social media
• Everything published on the internet is
copyrighted unless it is clearly stated against.
– Even if it does not notify any copyright protection
– This rule is in use after the Berne Copyright
Convention, 1986
• Your use has to be a “Fair Use”
• Think twice if your aim is commercial.

22. Copyright in Social Media
• So any photos, sounds or videos you share,
except the ones you give the link, must be a
anonymous.
• You have to also get the permission of the people
if you post a photo which they appear in.
• Each social media site has its own terms against
the usage of copyrighted materials, be aware of
them.
• Patents, trade secrets and trademarks are also
protected.

23. CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES IN SOCIAL
MEDIA

24. Criminal Activities
• Criminal activities related with social media
are not confined online crimes only, they can
be studied under three subcategories:
1. Contribution to ‘standard’ crime
2. Contribution to existing e-crime
3. New Crimes
• Social networks on the other hand provides
evidences of crime for a legal investigation.

25. 1. Contribution to a ‘standard’ crime
• Murder, theft, kidnapping are examples of
crimes that needs no computing device.
• However social media facilitates the crime
– In finding the victim
– Choosing the appropriate time
– Gathering required intelligence

26. Consider the Case
• You may post a photo of your brand new Mac to
Facebook.
• This information can be reached by many people,
wider than your friend, depends on your privacy
settings and your friends’ accounts security level.
• And you again informed your friends about your
trip abroad which would take two weeks.
• You provide enough information for a potential
thief.

27. Real Case
• 50 burglaries in New Hampshire and Nashusa,
were claimed to be carried out based on the
intelligence gained from the status updates of
the victims’ profiles.
source:http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/13/social_network_burgla
ry_gang/

28. 2. Contribution to Existing E-Crimes
• Social media facilitates or provides tools for e
crimes, mainly
– On-line scams
– Social Engineering
– Hacking
– Malware distribution
– Cyberstalking
– Cyberbullying

29. Consider the Case
• If one of your friends account is compromised,
you are under risk of an online scam.
• You know that your friend has a vacation plan in
Spain.
• You received a message from your friend through
Facebook, stating that his/her wallet was stolen
and asks you to lend some money immediately.
• The message is sent by the hacker but you would
not question the credibility of the message since
it is based on some truth.

30. 3. New Crimes
• There are some new crimes that are brought
by the social media tools.
– Fake personal profiles
– Identity thefts
• Real Case: An overpretoctive mother created a
fictitious identity in MySpace in order to bully
her daughter’s rivals. When the daughter
realizes the deception she committed suicide.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/27/us/27myspace.html

31. a false statement about something
4. DEFAMATION

32. Defamation: Can we post anything on
Social Media?
• False claim, expressly stated with no prove that may
give an individual, business, product, group,
government or nation a negative image.
• Defamation v. Freedom of Speech.
• Slander involves the making of defamatory statements
by a transitory (non-fixed) representation, usually an oral
(spoken) representation.
• Libel involves the making of defamatory statements in a
printed or fixed medium, such as a magazine or newspaper.
• Existing Law is Clear. (it is illegal to “grossly offend” or
“cause distress”).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defamation#Defamation_laws_by_jurisdiction)

33. Defamation: Insult v. Criticism
• 2006. The case of Sean W. Conway, an Attorney
insulted the judge, Cheryl Aleman, on JAABlog, a
Discussion Forum. Result: a public reprimand
(disapproval) and was fined $1,250.
(http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/seduced_for_lawyers_the_
appeal_of_social_media_is_obvious_dangerous)
• 2009. Duane Brady v. Daniella Cox. Duane Brady
insulted Daniella Cox through Facebook that makes
him arrested. (http://mybroadband.co.za/news/internet/6580-manbust-for-facebook-insults.html).
• Badmouth on Social Media? Think twice.

34. Defamation:
Accusing based on Facts?
• 2010. Chris Cairns v. Lalit Modi, the former Indian
Premier League commissioner. Lalit Modi,
accused Chris Cairns about match-fixing on
Twitter, which is proven not right. Result: in
2012, Chris Cairns won the case and awarded
£90,000 ($142,000) & Modi has to pay the costs
amounted £1.5 million ($2.4 million).
(http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/story/558806.html)
• So, be careful of what you post!
• As a developer minimize the risk by Attribution disclaimers and
Terms of Service.

35. Wrongly actions in works and business practices and regarding
professional ethics.
5. MISCONDUCT IN EMPLOYMENT
PRACTICES AND PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

36. Recruiting and Firing
• Many employers check the applicants through
Social Media accounts for recruiting employees.
• Forrester Research report that 14% of companies
disciplined employees and 5% fired them for
offenses involving social networking sites.
• 2012. Sukhoi Flight Attendant, Ekaterina
Solovyeva, fired after tweeted “Hahaha”
(laughing) regarding to the Plane crash.
(http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/flight_attendant_p
eople_after_tweeting_5WjHzDNGSrks6AmwSoUlwI)
• Watch your manners on Social Media as publicly
Posts might be notified by anyone.

37. Maintaining Employees
• Many Employees become Unproductive and
addicted to Social Media. (spend time too much on
Social Media services).
• Many corporations in the US, including Citigroup,
Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, UBS, etc., restrict access
to Facebook.
(http://www.informationweek.com/news/20180814
9)
• Organizations should have a clear Policy
regarding the Use of Social Media.

38. Professional Ethics Violation
• Can I post and disclose anything regarding my job?
• Previous Conway case. 2006. Ethical attorney violation,
false statements or reckless statements about the
qualifications or integrity of a judge and engaging in
professional conduct that is prejudicial to the
administration of justice.
• Previous paramedic case. Disclosing patient’s data.
• Behave Correctly about which actions
permitted and not, according to policy and
professional ethics on Social Media!

39. That’s all.. So?
CONCLUSIONS

40. Conclusions
• Social Media services are not only creating
benefits, but it also creating some Legal Issues
to the society.
• These Issues must be taken in the
consideration for Users, Developers, and
Regulation Makers to minimize the risks of it.
• Cautious is Needed. Not too low or too high.
Medium level is fine.

41. Is there any questions?
THANK YOU