Social Media, Privacy & the Law

Social media, whether from your PC, MacBook Pro or smartphone is growing.  With it comes the task of business to manage the data and maintain privacy of information businesses collect.

Whether you realize it or not, every business collects information that some federal or state law requires be protected.  Health and medical information, employee social security numbers and other information for health benefits are examples governed by HIPAA.  The federal governments alphabet soup includes COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection act), FACTA/FRCA (Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act/Fair Credit Reporting Act), ECPA (Electronic Communications Privacy Act) and VPPA (Video Privacy Protection Act).  States are in on the subject as well.

But social media is what businesses are turning to for new clients, increased sales and lower cost of doing business.

The problem is, as use increases so too does the responsibility of a business to understand the consequences of failing to maintain privacy as required by statutes and expected by clients.

Here are a few ideas for the new year –

Test your system – Go to your own website and social media pages and look at what’s there.  Pay attention to what is said on those pages and keep the information current.

Talk – Have discussions internally with the marketing and IT and make sure both are headed in the same direction.  What are the goals for use of social media and what are the groups planning?

Revisit/Renew/Reinvigorate – Go back through your privacy policy and social media policy.  Make sure each works in harmony with each other and the governing laws applicable to your business.

Records Retention – Now is a good time to review your retention policy, make sure it follows how things are actually dome in your business and if not, adjust the policy, the procedures or both.

Need some guidance, call us and we’ll be glad to review your policies and provide suggestions.