RUSSIA: Anti-Gay Social Media Group Posts Reward To Out LGBT Teachers

Queer Russia reports:

A new St. Petersburg based antigay group emerged on a popular Russian social network Vkontakte has launched an on-line campaign offering an equivalent of $150 for reporting “confirmed” information on LGBT school teachers. The group aims to stop “gay propaganda to minors” in schools and dismiss gay teachers with the help of local authorities. The announcement published on the group’s page Vkontakte urges people to collect and send in any public information about LGBT teachers who are, “explicitly or implicitly”, open about their own sexual orientation on the internet and to their schoolchildren.

The group refuses to accept any rumors or slander and stresses that the information must be available in the open sources so that the group’s activity does not violate the Russian law on collecting personal data without a person’s consent. The announcement claims that such open information can be “threatening to psyche and mind of children who may be around such people”. The group claims to have connections with the Russian authorities in order to perform dismissals “without any bullying, homophobia or calls to violence”, but still enforcing the “gay propaganda to minors ban law”.

The group claims to have be given the names of six teachers within the first 24 hours of their post.

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Posted in: bigotry,Russia,social media,St. Petersburg

Mormon Murder Case Submitted to Jury

After 4-months of proofs, the capital murder case against Jodi Arias has [finally] been submitted to the jury for deliberation and a verdict.  Although the murder of Travis Alexander occurred in 2008, the jury was not empaneled until January 2, 2013.

In an interesting preliminary decision, the presiding judge elected not to sequester the jury.  This means that, although they were provided with a daily admonishment not to discuss the case with anyone outside the courthouse, jurors were left to their own devices when faced with the saturation-media coverage of this trial.

We here at the Law Blogger have posted on the topic of social media and the jury pool, and the problems presented by jurors that seek information about their case outside the courtroom.  In such high-profile cases, the jurors realize they are a part of our lurid true-crime history. 

These folks thus become high-profile jurors.  Many hire attorneys or agents after the trial to discuss lucrative media appearances; even book deals. 

Being in the profession of defending the accused, we wonder over here at the Law Blogger how many of the jurors assigned to this case have succumbed to the temptation of tuning into the media coverage of their case.  How many jurors have Googled some of the witnesses, particularly the experts, that testified in this case?

If any such forays come to light [and let's not forget that every Internet user's keystroke is recorded] this defendant will have at least one good appellate issue.  In our opinion, Judge Sherry Stephens should have sequestered this jury or at least obtained their known IP addresses, and she should have concluded the trial in February, not May.

Such cases give our media-rich culture the opportunity to marinate in the art of lawyering.  Some camps favor the prosecutor; others relish the art of defending the accused.

One thing is for sure -these high profile murder trials cement our collective national fixation with sex, religion and violence.  Not that each of us are latent dysfunctional bi-polar borderline personality stalkers.  Yet, as a nation, we just love the spectacle of the public trial; especially a capital murder trial.  Such trials have taken the place of a public execution in the town square.

Even with an inevitable jury conviction of some degree of homicide, unfortunately Ms. Arias will be with us for decades.  We here at this blog can already see the appeals beginning to form...

www.clarkstonlegal.com
info@clarkstonlegal.com

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Posted in: bi-polar,borderline personality disorder,capital murder,criminal defense lawyer,Jodi Arias,Judge Sherry Stephens,juror,jury trial,Mormon,murder,social media,stalker,Travas Alexander

Unemployed Lawyer Questions President Obama on Reddit

If you have a child under 25 that is technologically oriented, wired, so to speak, I bet they have a Reddit account.  You know, Reddit; the social media Q&A site that we here at the Law Blogger find to be somewhat exasperating and, well, just hyper.

If you're wrong, or wrong-headed, on Reddit, you'll be slashed to the quick and run off the site.  My high school underclassman son swears by Reddit.  He trusts the site, and uses it to answer questions on a wide range of pre-selected "interests".  I must admit, although a late adopter myself [I rarely make it into my Reddit profile...], it caught my eye when an unemployed law school graduate asked President Obama a question when the President participated in an AMA ["Ask Me Anything"] session.

Here is the question:

I am recent law school graduate. Despite graduating from a top school, I find myself unemployed with a large student loan debt burden. While I'm sure my immediate prospects will improve in time, it's difficult to be optimistic about the future knowing that my ability to live a productive life -- to have a fulfilling career, to buy a house, to someday raise a family -- is hampered by my debt and the bleak economic outlook for young people. I know that I'm not alone in feeling this way. Many of us are demoralized. Your 2008 campaign was successful in large part due to the efforts of younger demographics. We worked for you, we campaigned for you, and we turned out in record numbers to vote for you. What can I say to encourage those in similar situations as I am to show up again in November? What hope can you offer us for your second term?

 Here is President Obama's answer:

I am Barack Obama, President of the United States -- AMA by PresidentObamain IAmA

[–]PresidentObama[S] 2002 points 9 days ago
I understand how tough it is out there for recent grads. You're right - your long term prospects are great, but that doesn't help in the short term. Obviously some of the steps we have taken already help young people at the start of their careers. Because of the health care bill, you can stay on your parent's plan until you're twenty six. Because of our student loan bill, we are lowering the debt burdens that young people have to carry. But the key for your future, and all our futures, is an economy that is growing and creating solid middle class jobs - and that's why the choice in this election is so important. The other party has two ideas for growth - more taxs cuts for the wealthy (paid for by raising tax burdens on the middle class and gutting investments like education) and getting rid of regulations we've put in place to control the excesses on wall street and help consumers. These ideas have been tried, they didnt work, and will make the economy worse. I want to keep promoting advanced manufacturing that will bring jobs back to America, promote all-American energy sources (including wind and solar), keep investing in education and make college more affordable, rebuild our infrastructure, invest in science, and reduce our deficit in a balanced way with prudent spending cuts and higher taxes on folks making more than $250,000/year. I don't promise that this will solve all our immediate economic challenges, but my plans will lay the foundation for long term growth for your generation, and for generations to follow. So don't be discouraged - we didn't get into this fix overnight, and we won't get out overnight, but we are making progress and with your help will make more.

The "we're all in this together" plank of the Democratic Party is evident in this exchange with the Commander in Chief.  But what's up with the wind and solar power references?  These industries are on par with our legions of unemployed attorneys.  Overcapitalized for their current output; little to none.

Well, we here at the Law Blogger do subscribe to the positive outlook.  And we do take note that a sitting U.S. President spent a moment on a very forward social media platform connecting, briefly, with a random stream of computer users.

www.waterfordlegal.com
info@waterfordlegal.com

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Posted in: lawyer,President Obama,Reddit,social media

Illinois is 3rd State to Legislate Social Media Privacy Law

This just in.  Illinois joins Maryland and Delaware to pass a law protecting the social media privacy of individuals from prospective employers.

Michigan also has a similar bill under consideration known as the Social Network Account Privacy Act.  The general concept of these laws is to proscribe employers or educational institutions from requiring prospects to provide account access data such as passwords or log-in information.

Many of these prospective employers are law enforcement agencies, perhaps looking to see whether their recruits have any gang connections.  Other employers seek inappropriate photos are company disparaging remarks.

This practice is widely regarded as a breach of privacy.  Further, it is a breach of the operating agreement for most sites to share a password.  While the Justice Department considers the practice of entering a social media site in violation of the site's agreement to be a federal crime; albeit, the JOD has admitted in recent congressional testimony that such crimes will, for now, go un-prosecuted.

These laws are considered by legal experts to be both pro-business and pro-privacy.  The benefits to our ever-eroding privacy are obvious.  As for business, such legislation relieves a company or educational institution from the duty of monitoring protected digital content.

We will monitor the bill currently pending in the House Committee on Energy and Technology.

www.clarkstonlegal.com

info@clarkstonlegal.com

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Posted in: Justice Department,privacy law,privacy rights,social media,Social Network Account Privacy Act

Practicing Lawyers Embrace Social Media

This Thursday, I will be presenting in Seattle, WA to a group of lawyers from around the country on the topic of social media.  Not considering myself an expert in the field, I was surprised to get the invitation to join an esteemed panel.

Here's the catch; the good folks at Avvo.com, a website designed to interface consumers of legal [and health care] services with the providers of those services, wanted a panel made of practicing attorneys; not just the usual "social media marketing" consultants.

Lawyers are not just dabbling in social media these days.  For most, getting connected and developing a robust electronic profile is now a "catch-up" exercise.

So I will be addressing conference attendees on how, as a busy practicing attorney, I have utilized social media in my law practice.  Along with the other panelists from around the country, I will be sharing my experience with utilizing social media to get our law firm message out to our target  audience.

Thanks, in part, to the followers of this blog, I can point to sustained search results placing us near the top of hyper-local searches for legal services in Northern Oakland County.

As a preview to this presentation, I was interviewed by Colin O'Keefe [from the Seattle area] of LXBN TV.  Here is a link to Colin's interview.

www.clarkstonlegal.com

info@clarkstonlegal.com

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Posted in: Avvo,Avvocating 2012,Colin O'Keefe,lawyer,Oakland County,Seattle,social media

Social Media Presentations for Lawyers Are In Demand

With Lynn Krauss, President
Midland County Bar Association

Over the past several years, I have had the opportunity to address various bar organizations and industry groups on the topics of marketing and legal issues emerging within the social media context.  Lately, my bookings for such presentations have increased.

Lawyers now want to know how to market their wares electronically, and how to avoid the pitfalls.



Yesterday, I presented to the Midland County Bar Association.  They hold their monthly meetings in the spacious, and just-built, clubhouse at the Midland Country Club.

As bar association meetings go, it was a well-attended event.  The MCBA's Treasurer, Eric Larsen, attributed this to the topic he arranged: social medial marketing for lawyers.  Of the nearly 40 attendees, there was an even mix of general practitioners and Dow corporate attorneys.

The discussion focused on how to stay abreast of the constant wave of information; how to manage that information; and how to disseminate select portions of that information for a lawyer's prospects.  Hyper-local marketing was explained.  Tips were imparted on how to rise above the ever-present clutter that always seems to accompany search engine results.

The message in Midland was consistent with my other presentations: to get noticed on the Internet [i.e. Google, Yahoo, YouTube], lawyers marketing on the web need to frequently post relevant content that your target audience will find useful.

Now doing that, while managing a law firm, and actually practicing law, that is the challenge for the modern general practitioner.  More and more, lawyers and catching on to the social media wave.  For many, the good ole "yellow pages" ad is a distant memory.

Upcoming presentations on these topics will include a webinar sponsored by Thompson-West on Thursday, 02/23/2012, at 11:00 am EST.  Also, I will be on a panel of other practicing attorneys at the "Avvocating 2012" seminar in Seattle, WA in May.

Stay tuned as this is an ever-evolving topic.

www.clarkstonlegal.com

info@clarkstonlegal.com

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Posted in: Attorney Barb Krauss,Attorney Eric Larsen,Avvocating 2012,Dow Corporation,general practice attorney,Midland County Bar Association,social media

Clarkston Legal Presents at ICLE's 10th Annual Family Law Instutite

On Friday, I presented on the topic of social media in the family law context to 500 Michigan lawyers attending ICLE's 10th Annual Family Law Institute at the Inn at St. John's in Plymouth, MI.

Part of the presentation dealt with the national and local "influencers" in the area of social media and the law; particularly family law.  Some of the more dynamic profiles of attorneys utilizing the social media were  profiled and discussed.

Lawyers are utilizing sites like Google+, YouTube, Linked In and Facebook to promote their content, expertise and profile.  Law-related sites such as JD Supra, Nolo, and Avvo were also profiled.

The second half of the presentation touched on issues of privacy and the expectation of privacy, or lack thereof.  The top social media sites referenced above install pieces of tracking software onto users computers.  The WSJ shined a bright light on this practice in its 2010 series, "What They Know".

Forensic recovery of electronically stored information (ESI) was one of the areas of primary focus.  Many divorce clients now present with information obtained through a violation of the spouse's privacy rights; the attorney must not accept such evidence.

Other clients destroy evidence or illegally scrub electronic information in transit with key-stroke programs such as the "evidence eliminator" which boasts that not even the FBI could recover scrubbed data.

One focus on whether evidence of bad conduct that may be relevant, or critical, to a custody dispute, is the source of the information.  ESI on a "family" computer has no expectation of privacy and is thus admissible in the family court.

Finally, the presentation surveyed recent litigation and case law arising from evidentiary disputes in family courts.  Some of the cases involved sexting, other cases involved cyber-bullying.

In all, it was a successful presentation made to an interested group of attorneys looking to put it all together in the social media context.

www.clarkstonlegal.com

info@clarkstonlegal.com

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Posted in: Avvo,divorce,e-discovery,electronically stored information,ESI,ICLE,privacy,social media

Privacy & Intellectual Property on Facebook

This post is the original content of Geoff Livingston, a blogger from the Washington D.C. area recognized as a social media and blogging "expert" by the Washington Post.  His 2007 book, Now is Gone was hailed by the WSJ as a valuable resource for those interested in mining social media.

The topics of privacy and intellectual property relative to Facebook are intertwined and receive recurring attention.  Here is Geoff's recent post:

Have you read Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities? I decided to after talking to a Facebook IP lawyer. There are some serious dangers for content marketers on Facebook:

“For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (“IP content”), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (“IP License”).”

AND

“You will not tag users or send email invitations to non-users without their consent.”

If someone is using content as a means to market to their potential customers, the first statement presents huge issues. It’s clear that protecting IP is hard on Facebook given these terms.

While the same statement offers IP protections, Facebook is clearly soft on enforcement. Basically, for someone to get in trouble for using your copyrighted content without your permission, it requires someone to “repeatedly infringe” for Facebook to take action.

All in all, your content is not safe on Facebook, IMO. It’s best to use secondary services such as a blog, a video site or a photo site, and link back in if protecting copyright is an issue.

On the tagging front, I was particularly interested as this is a common form of marketing wares on Facebook, one I often interpret to be spam. Apparently, if you tag someone in a manner that they do not approve, it REALLY IS spam.

Reading the same policy, “You will not send or otherwise post unauthorized commercial communications (such as spam) on Facebook.” Facebook has demonstrated it is adamant about policing spammers on its network. It is actively prosecuting abusers of its spamming policy and suing them.

In essence, if you use tags with your content or posts to market your services, you are spamming people. No ifs or ands about it. If the people who are being tagged decide to report you, it’s likely that you will find little leniency from Facebook.

The lesson for content marketers, don’t hard sell on Facebook. Tagging should be soft, clearly benefiting the community members mentioned. Otherwise it’s best to try other social network services to achieve your goals.

info@clarkstonlegal.com

http://www.clarkstonlegal.com/

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Posted in: attorney,electronic criminal lawyer,Facebook,Geoff Livingston,intellectual property,Now is Gone,privacy rights,social media