Social media and employment: do you have a right to freedom of speech?

There’s a lot of conversation going on regarding employee/employer rights regarding social media, what you can and can’t say privately and publically online and how employers should react. Many see this as covering several issues including free speech, privacy rights, discrimination and harassment.

Different countries have different guidelines depending on the law. In the US the National Labour Relations Act states (reference Maggie McGary’s blog):

While employers are permitted to lay out policies as to what employees may blog about in relation to work, employers cannot fashion policies that have the effect of chilling an employee's exercise of his or her Section 7 rights, nor can employers discipline employees for blogging about "wages, hours, or terms or conditions of employment," such as the company's pay scale or vacation policy. See Timekeeping Sys., Inc., 323 N.L.R.B. 244 (1997).

Essentially, an employer cannot stop you from exercising your right to free speech. However, and this applies to the UK, if an employee makes derogatory remarks about an employer or thecompany on their blog or social media profile, libel proceedings can be brought against the employee. If these comments were damaging to the employer or company, the employer could discipline and dismiss the employee regardless of the contract of employment as all employees have implied terms of trust and confidence. This is often covered and clarified in the employers Company Handbook available to all employees.

Equally, if harassment or bullying of employees is occurring online through social media then employers should have a harassment policy that clearly covers this in the Company Handbook.

So, if you resign and your company asks you not to discuss your resignation or new job on your social media profiles until you have served your notice period to avoid clients finding out unofficially and to maintain moral in the office do you have to comply?

No.

Would you want to comply?

Maybe, especially if it makes the transition process easier and less awkward.

But think:

Is your social media site of choice public (Twitter) or as private as you can make it (Facebook with all the highest privacy settings)? It’s probably not best to broadcast your news on Twitter which will show up in search engine listings unless you really don’t care what the effect may be.

Are you linked to any clients, shareholders, colleagues on your profile? Chances are with FB you only link with friends and family. If any of those friends are colleagues you would hope they know about your new job and are happy for you. They possible relish the idea of being able to congratulate you on FB rather than in the office where not everyone may be happy you are departing.

Finally, what if a non work friend posts on your profile? Your employer cannot restrict your freedom of speech or censor you so equally they cannot restrict your friends. Only if comments are libel or defamatory can your employer take things further.

Use common sense though. If you’ve signed an NDA or contract don’t say anything that you know you shouldn’t. If you get a funny feeling when you about to post and submit and start doubting yourself, chances are you shouldn’t make that post. And never burn your bridges, you never know what the future holds and may regret slagging off your employer over Twitter.

You have a choice but so does your employer in how they react to social media commentary.

NB. I am not a lawyer but there is plenty of legal advice out there around this issue. Just search Google and you will find a wealth of legal advice and HR information.

New advertising campaign by the ASA alerts consumers and businesses to online marketing regulation changes

As the radio flicked on at the weekend I was awoken not by the dulcet tones of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, more popular than ever with the release of Black Swan in the cinemas, but by an advertisement announcing the extension of the digital remit of the ASA (Advertising Standards Agency). The phrase “It’s online, we can say what we like” startled me awake with a jump.

In a bid to inform both consumers and businesses of changes coming into force from 1st March this year, the ASA is running an advertising campaign across all media channels. It is hoped that since the initial announcement back in September 2010, businesses have been proactive enough to address advertisements, advertising messages and other marketing communications on their own website or in other non-paid for space online under their control. The ASA goes further to clarify this statement in confirming these messages must be “directly connected with the supply or transfer of goods, services, opportunities and gifts, or which consist of direct solicitations of donations as part of their own fund-raising activities.”

Essentially, all marketing messages on a company’s website whether B2C or B2B now fall under regulation by the ASA. Even more importantly, marketing messages on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, where content is under the control of the business, are also subject to ASA regulation.

So. No excuses. It might be online but you can no longer say what you like. Take a look at your company’s website today and make sure you are compliant. From 2008-2009, the ASA rejected approximately 3,500 complaints relating to the content of organisations’ own websites because they fell outside of the CAP code. From the 1st March however these complaints will be taken seriously.

For more information on the ASA and CAP changes visit http://www.cap.org.uk/Media-Centre/2010/Extending-the-Digital-remit-of-the-CAP-Code.aspx

Get your head around copyright basics

Get your head around copyright basics or pay the price with litigation

In light of some interesting tweeting recently around the hashtag #cooksource I though I'd brush up my knowledge and understanding of copyright law.

Copyright is a set of exclusive rights granted to the author or creator of an original work, including the right to copy, distribute and adapt the work. Copyright owners have the exclusive statutory right to exercise control over copying and other exploitation of the works for a specific period of time, after which the work is said to enter the public domain.

Plagiarism is defined as "the wrongful appropriation, close imitation, or purloining and publication, of another author's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions, and the representation of them as one's own original work.”

Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which property rights are recognized and their corresponding fields of law. Tangible assets include musical, literary, and artistic works; discoveries and inventions; and words, phrases, symbols, and designs. Common types of intellectual property include copyrights, trademarks, patents, industrial design rights and trade secrets in some jurisdictions.

The copyright law of the United Kingdom governs the legally enforceable rights to creative and artistic works under the laws of the United Kingdom. The primary purpose of copyright is to protect authors' rights. Authors have a pre-existing common law copyright over their work which is upheld by statutory law.

Copyright law forbids the use, reproduction and/or reprinting of copy without the express consent of the author/originator or holder of the copyright. “Copy” includes images, sound, any printed materials (books, recipes, poems, stories, articles etc) and similar online material including blog posts. Material posted online is NOT in the public domain and is NOT free for reproduction without consent, it is still covered by copyright law unless otherwise stated by the author.

Thankfully, with today’s technology it is incredibly easy for authors to Google their own work and discover copyright infringements. Unfortunately, because of today’s technology and social channels it is also incredibly easy for breaches of copyright to become public knowledge – potentially creating a negative social media storm and legal minefield.

Refer to the case of Gaudio vs Griggs/Cooks Source ( see K E Gill's timeline for a variety of links relating to this case). This is a case of copyright infringement of Monica Gaudio’s article on the history of the humble apple pie. The article is Ms Gaudio’s intellectual property and as author, Ms Gaudio has copyright over its reproduction and distribution (clearly stated on her blog with the use of a copyright statement). By lifting Ms Gaudio’s article from the internet and reproducing it in print, Cooks Source is in breach of copyright. Although Cooks Source attribute the article to Ms Gaudio with a by-line and as a result do not technically commit plagiarism it is evident that at no point did Ms Gaudio provide consent for the reproduction of her work and the publication infringes upon her copyright. The social media backlash in response to Ms Gaudio’s treatment by Cooks Source has resulted in the magazine loosing advertisers, pulling their website and essentially going underground until things “quieten down”.

(Please do correct any errors by posting your comments - its better to be right than wrong!)

Definition sources: Wikipedia

Date my Avatar

To pre-launch season 3 of @TheGuild, @FeliciaDay and fellow cast members have produced the most awesome music video ever. I may even go as far to say that, to a role play gamer, this music video is sheer genius.

Entitled "Do you want to date my Avatar?", the track and video features the cast of the hit internet TV show dressed as their online role play characters with lyracist Day, as Codex, taking lead vocals.

Incredibly funny, this video is a must see for anyone, regardless of whether you RP, LARP, WoW or just like to dress up in doublets, corsets and carry a fake plastic sword.

Check it our on YouTube and then get the track in the charts by supporting #datemyavatar on iTunes.

iPhone 3GS and O2

I was going to blog about the new iPhone 3GS, announced this week at the Apple WWDC, and the ensuing "to-do" raised on Twitter over the lack of a suitable O2 upgrade structure for existing iPhone customers but then i read the following on WIRED.

WIRED have summed it all up better than I could so go read their article, it really is a good read.

I’m not a couch potato. I engage in social broadcasting.

How do you make the act of sitting on your sofa every night of the week, with your eyes glued to a box streaming colourful moving images, a social activity? Well you set up a second box nearby which streams comments from people all over the country, indeed, from across the globe and you stare at this box as well as the cathode ray/plasma/LED screen in the corner.

OK, so perhaps I paint a poor image of what is emerging as social broadcasting and honestly speaking I didn’t get it to start with. Why would you want to watch two screens and miss half the programme whilst you tweet you comments and views? That was until Eurovision.

Eurovision changed everything. Or perhaps Twitter changed Eurovision? Either way, this year, Eurovision became an exciting rollercoaster of musicality, costumes and hashtags. Finally I had a group, a very large group at that, of EuroTrash enthusiasts with whom I could chat about the competition.

And it’s not programmes that for years have been cringe worthy or you really should be ashamed to enjoy that have evolved due to social networking and Twitter. Channel 4’s “experiment” of televising live surgery has had people flooding to Twitter, not just to follow what other people think but to directly ask the studio, presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy @krishgm and surgeons their questions. And when Channel 4 can’t cope with the influx of questions, Tweeters are helping each other out.

Roo Reynolds has blogged often about social broadcasting with his unique insight working for the BBC, and shows how The Apprentice has fans login on and voting each week for who they think will be on the receiving end of the shows iconic catchphrase from Sir Alan in the Board Room.

Instead of sitting every night like a couch potato staring at the TV, I now like to stare at the TV and Twitterfon on my iPod and debate the finer points of international singing competitions (#eurovision), talent shows (#bgt) and open heart surgery (#slive). It is certainly more exciting watching TV with "friends".

New sports car!

Just thought I'd show off my latest cake achievement.