Welcome to Socially Aware

Socially Aware is devoted to the law and business of social media, proactively addressing emerging issues and keeping our clients informed of new developments. We cover fields such as artificial intelligence, privacy and data security, Section 230, intellectual property, and much more.

July 22, 2016 - First Amendment, Protected Speech, Live streaming, Cyberbullying, Disappearing Content, Privacy, Free Speech, Mobile, Litigation
Social Links: Twitter’s troll problem; Snapchat fat-shamer risks prosecution; a federal anti-revenge-porn law?
By: Aaron P. Rubin
Facebook Messenger joins the elite “one billion monthly users” club just four years after its release as a standalone app. A Canadian judge ordered a couple convicted of child neglect to post to all their social media accounts his decision describing their crime. Leslie
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July 21, 2016 - Privacy, Mobile, Litigation
Augmenting Reality: A Pokémon Go Business and Legal Primer
By: Aaron P. Rubin
We have become inured to the sight of people staring at their phones rather than engaging with one another or enjoying their real-life surroundings. But, over the past two weeks, enslavement to mobile devices rose to new levels, with smartphones and tablets actually propelling
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July 19, 2016 - Class Actions, E-Commerce, Terms of Use, Litigation
Controversial New Jersey Consumer Protection Law Creates a Potential “Gotcha” for E-Commerce Companies
By: Anthony M. Ramirez
If your company is involved in selling products or services to consumers in New Jersey over the web or through mobile apps, you’ll want to read this blog post. In what amounts to a feeding frenzy, plaintiffs’ lawyers are working overtime bringing class action
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July 18, 2016 - Trademark
#Trademarks?: Hashtags as Trademarks Revisited
By: Aaron P. Rubin
Since our previous article on the emerging issue of trademark rights in hashtags , the use of hashtags in social media marketing has continued to grow. Described as the “ignition keys to a social media keyword search,” hashtags can be powerful tools for creating
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July 15, 2016 - Patent, Live streaming, Privacy, UK, IP, Litigation
Social Links: Appeals court opinions show reach of anti-hacking law; a virtual reality sickness cure; intrigue at Vine
By: Aaron P. Rubin
The UK wants to use the blockchain to track the spending of welfare recipients. Some believe that a recent Ninth Circuit holding could turn sharing passwords into a federal crime under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. And another Ninth Circuit opinion sided with
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July 08, 2016 - E-Commerce, Live streaming, Disappearing Content, Marketing, Privacy, Asia, Litigation
Social Links: Kids roll eyes as parents embrace Snapchat; teen sues Snapchat over sexual content; Snapchat to become less ephemeral with new “Memories” feature (plus some other news not involving Snapchat)
By: Aaron P. Rubin
Snapchat has caught on with “oldies” (that’s people 35 and older, FYI). Facebook Messenger is testing “Secret” mode, a feature that allows some messages to be read only by the recipient. A South Korean copy of Snapchat has taken off in Asia. Using social
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July 06, 2016 - Privacy, Free Speech
Europe’s Right to Be Forgotten Spreads to Asia
In May 2014, in a decision attracting worldwide attention, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) held that a European individual’s privacy rights include the “right to be forgotten,” requiring Internet search engine providers to honor an individual’s request to remove certain search results relating
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July 05, 2016 - Mobile, Litigation
App Developer Prevails in Class Action Lawsuit Challenging Shift to New Business Model
By: Claudia M. Vetesi
If you make available a service through a free app, and you subsequently decide to migrate users of that app to a paid subscription model, that shouldn’t create any problems, right? Well, app developer LogMeIn did just that, and became the target of a
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July 01, 2016 - Data Security, Cyberbullying, Marketing, Employment Law, Litigation
Social Links: Implications of Facebook’s algorithm change; branded emoji; free travel apps
By: Aaron P. Rubin
The Internet is abuzz over the Facebook algorithm change. Here are the implications for marketers and publishers and for regular users. U.S. Customs wants to start collecting the social media accounts for foreign travelers. Court: Woman fired for posting to her Facebook page that
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June 28, 2016 - European Union, Data Security, Privacy, UK
Brexit: Data Protection Implications
As the entire world knows, the United Kingdom has voted by a narrow majority to leave the European Union (“Brexit”). But the Brexit process will take time, and the implications for businesses will also unfold over time. In this blog post, we take a look
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Welcome to Socially Aware

Social Links: Twitter’s troll problem; Snapchat fat-shamer risks prosecution; a federal anti-revenge-porn law?

By: Aaron P. Rubin

Augmenting Reality: A Pokémon Go Business and Legal Primer

By: Aaron P. Rubin

Controversial New Jersey Consumer Protection Law Creates a Potential “Gotcha” for E-Commerce Companies

By: Anthony M. Ramirez

#Trademarks?: Hashtags as Trademarks Revisited

By: Aaron P. Rubin

Social Links: Appeals court opinions show reach of anti-hacking law; a virtual reality sickness cure; intrigue at Vine

By: Aaron P. Rubin

Social Links: Kids roll eyes as parents embrace Snapchat; teen sues Snapchat over sexual content; Snapchat to become less ephemeral with new “Memories” feature (plus some other news not involving Snapchat)

By: Aaron P. Rubin

Europe’s Right to Be Forgotten Spreads to Asia

App Developer Prevails in Class Action Lawsuit Challenging Shift to New Business Model

By: Claudia M. Vetesi

Social Links: Implications of Facebook’s algorithm change; branded emoji; free travel apps

By: Aaron P. Rubin

Brexit: Data Protection Implications