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 14, 2013 - Securities Law, SEC, JOBS Act
Private Funds on Social Media—Proceed with Caution
When the Securities and Exchange Commission lifted the ban on general solicitation and general advertising for private offerings of securities, can marketing blitzes on Twitter and other social media sites be far behind? It is not likely that we will see hedge funds aggressively
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July 01, 2013 - Privacy
Youthful Indiscretions: California Bills Poised to Regulate Use of Minors’ Data on Social Networks
Two bills designed to facilitate the removal of minors’ personal information from social networking sites are currently under consideration in the California State Assembly, after being approved in the upper house of the state’s legislature, the Senate, in early 2013. The first of the
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June 21, 2013 - Trademark
Protecting Your Trademarks as ICANN Launches New Generic Top Level Domains
Last year, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) received over 1,900 applications for new generic top-level domains (gTLDs), including multiple applications for popular domains like .app, .inc, .art, .shop and .music. More than seven hundred applications have now passed an initial
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June 20, 2013 - Securities Law, Financial Institutions
FINRA Issues Sweep Letter Regarding Use of Social Media
FINRA, having enacted new communications rules that specifically reference electronic communications, having issued two Regulatory Notices (linked here and here ) providing guidance to the securities industry on social media, and having made social media and electronic communications exam priorities in two of the
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June 16, 2013 - Litigation
German Court Holds Google Responsible for Its Search Suggestions
By: Alja Poler De Zwart
On May 15, 2013, in a case filed against Google by an entrepreneur selling dietary supplements and cosmetics (the “Plaintiff”), the German Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe ( Bundesgerichtshof , the “Federal Court”) ruled that Google must remove any defamatory suggestions generated by
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June 12, 2013 - Asia
The Diet Has Spoken: Japanese Lawmakers Approve Internet-Enabled Campaigning
By: Tomoki Kodama
In February 2013, we reported on legislative momentum in the Japanese Diet to bring Japan’s sixty-year-old election laws into the brave new world of Web 2.0. On April 19, 2013, that reform effort came to fruition, when a bill permitting the use of the
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June 11, 2013 - Securities Law, SEC, Financial Institutions
Stop Insider Tweeting!—Feds Eye Social Media for Securities Shenanigans
Article courtesy of Morrison & Foerster’s MoFo Tech As financial institutions and investors turn to social media to instantly share snippets of news and potential clues about market trends, the FBI and SEC are monitoring such postings for evidence of insider trading and improper
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June 11, 2013 - E-Commerce, Ethics
Playing Fair? UK’s OFT Investigates Online and App-Based Games
On April 12, 2013, the UK’s Office of Fair Trading (OFT), the UK regulator for consumer affairs and competition, announced that it was launching an investigation into children’s web- and app-based games. In particular, the OFT is looking into whether such games comply with
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June 10, 2013 - FTC, Privacy
Mobile Apps Bill Introduced in the House of Representatives
By: Rick Fischer
Article courtesy of Morrison & Foerster’s Mobile Payments Practice Lawmakers in Washington, D.C., continue to show interest in understanding and developing regulatory proposals relating to mobile apps. The interest appears to be driven, at least in part, by policymakers’ concerns about consumer privacy when
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June 05, 2013 - Infographic, Ethics
New UK Press Self-Regulation – With a Small Blog Exemption
Following concerns raised by bloggers, the UK government has clarified that small blogs will be exempt from the scope of the new UK press watchdog which is to be introduced as a result of the findings of the Leveson Inquiry. In 2007, Clive Goodman,
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