PORT ANGELES — Social media — Twitter, texting, Facebook, even Classmates.com — present both opportunity and danger to business management, attorney Donna Knifsend told about 30 members of the Port Angeles Business Association on Tuesday morning.
Electronic communications create an entirely new forum for marketing, one that can be measured, clearly targeted and effective, she said.
However, it’s also new, undefined and, in legal terms, “unsettled law,” Knifsend added.
Internet media have grown faster than new laws can be enacted to police the new frontier.
“It’s the wild west,” she said.
Knifsend said businesses and individuals can use the new media to their advantage and offered tips and warnings on how to use it without being consumed by the side effects.
Email ad campaigns
Something as simple as an email marketing campaign can lead to big fines, Knifsend said.
The Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing — known as CAN SPAM — Act of 2003 makes it illegal to send unsolicited advertisements via email, with an accompanying fine of $16,000 per violation, she said.
No pornographic material is necessary to trigger the fine. It only has to be unwanted marketing materials, she said.
“You must have a working opt-out link,” she said.
Consumers who ask to be taken off the mailing list must be taken off before the next mailing.
And that’s just the start of the nightmares, she said.
Both job hunters and prospective employers can get tangled in the net when using electronic job hunting or prospective employee research, Knifsend said.
Job hunters need to be aware of what they have put on the Internet in the past and even what their friends — or enemies — have written about them online.
Job search
An innocent, joking comment on Facebook calling a friend an insane ax murderer can show up during a job search.
“There is no privacy on the Internet,” Knifsend said.
What if another employee, years after the person is hired, sees that comment and is concerned? she said.
The innocent comment by a friend or overstated accusation by an old enemy made years earlier could result in a concerned employee accusing the company of endangering other workers’ safety, she said
On the employers’ side, applicants who may have a visible disability, are older or are members of an ethnic minority can claim their application was turned down because the hiring manager saw a picture of them on the Internet and made a discriminatory hiring decision.
“Eighty-six percent of employers today use the Internet to find employees,” Knifsend said.
It doesn’t matter if no one at the company ever saw the photo, she said.
“The burden of proof is on the employer,” Knifsend said.
Prospective employee research should be done by another department, or even another company, so that the company can point to an established system that avoids any reasonable possibility of such an event, she said.
Employee actions
Video cameras are everywhere — traffic cameras, ATM cameras, store and office security cameras. There is always a chance of being videotaped while in public, Knifsend said.
A recent case of a YouTube video of a woman falling into a mall fountain while texting underscored the need to train and supervise employees.
The woman sued mall management for her humiliation when security guards released the taped incident on the YouTube video-sharing website, complete with employee commentary and laughter, Knifsend said.
Facebook, LinkedIn and other networking websites can be a huge benefit to businesses, but what if a marketing representative posts a picture of herself on the Web where she is wearing a sundress but looks naked in the picture?
Where does employee action, outside of work, cross into the employer’s concern?
Employers have limited legal recourse in these areas, she said.
Personal security
“What is the first thing a website asks for when registering?” Knifsend asked.
“Your birthdate,” she said.
Knifsend uses a fake birthdate for registrations and posts little additional personal information, she said.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
