Careers

Experiences

Industries

Offices

Our Firm

Pages

Our People

Updates

Practices

Warner Norcross + Judd LLP is a corporate law firm with over 230 attorneys serving clients in nine offices throughout Michigan. Among the largest law firms in Michigan, Warner works in virtually all areas of business law.

Michigan Law Firm - Warner Norcross + Judd LLP

The Practising Law Institute sent me a free copy of its new book "Social Media and the Law" and asked me to review it. (See what I <a href="http://www.wassom.com/conference-speakers-should-follow-ftc-guidelines-for-sponsored-social-media-posts.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">did</a> there?) This was interesting, since I market my own e-treatise, <em>Wassom on Social Media Law</em>, as a free online alternative to chunky desktop books like this one.

contentpilot/introduction

Nevertheless, the ethos of social media is all about acknowledging good work by others. And this book is a nice effort at summarizing the legal issues surrounding social media--one that may especially appeal to in-house counsel who want to read a few key facts about several different legal issues, rather than a deep dive into any of them. Simply flipping through the table of contents shows that its ten chapters hit the major highlights:

core/paragraph

core/quote

3. Copyrights, Ownership, and Control of Content

5. Defamation, Other Torts, and Related Cybercrimes

7. Compliance Considerations for Regulated Industries

There are a number of other legal issues in social media that go beyond these, of course, but this covers most of what PLI's readers will be interested in. &nbsp;The book provides a neatly packaged, well-organized summary of each issue. "Summary" is the key word, because the actual book is thinner than the thick binder it comes in would suggest. &nbsp;No doubt this is to leave room for future updates, but there are several topics on which I would've liked to see more analysis.

The book also has the same limitations inherent to any print publication--which is one reason that I've declined offers to publish my treatise in hard copy. You can't follow hyperlinks to read the cases and websites cited in the footnotes. And by the time the text makes it from author to editor to publisher to distributor to reader, some of it is inevitably going to be out of date, especially with this subject matter. &nbsp;As one example, Chapter 2 mentions that "the FTC is currently seeking comments on proposed amendments to the COPPA Rules," when in fact the FTC has already received public comments, announced final rules, and seen those rules go into effect several <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/security/privacy/child-privacy-online-ftc-updates-coppa-r/240157734" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">months</a> ago.

But that does not take away from the hard work and real value that the authors have contributed to this book. &nbsp;Their team approach provides more diverse views than any one author could provide. And I particularly enjoy the well-researched appendices that accompany most chapters. &nbsp;For example, there are 50-state survey charts of citations to all the data security breach and cybercrime statutes across the country, and several form letters for various applications. These are likely to be handy references from which I'll get real value going forward.

In addition to asking for my review, the Practising Law Institute also gave me a <a href="http://www.pli.edu/Content/Treatise/Social_Media_and_the_Law/_/N-4lZ1z12fua?fromsearch=false&amp;ID=171652&amp;t=RFD3_9ADIS" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">code</a> to share with my readers for 20% off this title. &nbsp;If you're interested in picking up a copy, by all means make sure to save yourself some money this way.

Augmented Legality

Emerging Media and Technologies

Partner

Brian D. Wassom

Information Technology Transactions

Book Review and Coupon: "Social Media and the Law"

Warner Norcross + Judd LLP is responsible for the contents of our advertising and this website. Please read our full <a href="/privacy-policy/" aria-label="see privacy policy">privacy policy</a> available on our website. If you have any questions or comments about our website or our Privacy Policy please contact us at <a href="mailto:info@wnj.com">info@wnj.com</a> or 616.752.2000. 

Book Review and Coupon: "Social Media and the Law"

professionals