Legal Issues Associated with Emerging Social Interaction Technologies

Abstract

This chapter focuses on legal issues that may arise from the increasing use of social interaction technologies: prospective employers searching the Internet to discover information from candidates’ blogs, personal web pages, or social networking profiles; employees being fired because of blog comments; a still-evolving federal law granting online service providers sweeping immunity from liability for user-published content; and attempts to apply the federal computer crime law to conduct on social networking sites. The U.S. legal system has been slow to adapt to the rapid proliferation of social interaction technologies. This paradox of rapid technological change and slow legal development can sometimes cause unfairness and uncertainty. Until the U.S. legal system begins to adapt to the growing use of these technologies, there will be no change.