Posted by

Barry Siskind

Community Manager

 

Years ago when the topic of privacy in marketing became an issue, countries scrambled to develop their own legislation. Today over 200 countries have legislation that addresses the needs of consumer privacy. The same issue seems to be happening with social media.

 

The MICE Exchange recently reported on the UK Code of Non-Broadcast Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing (CAP Code). This is a piece of legislation that clearly identifies what people can do and cannot do with social media. It is important for an industry like ours that has embraced social media to understand the legal implications.

 

For example CAP identifies such things as:

 

Don’t make any defamatory, racist or sexist statements,

 

Don’t disclose confidential information,

 

Don’t tweet anything likely to be protected by copyright or any other intellectual

property rights.

 

Tweeters who mistakenly think they can hide behind a false name or account have found that court documents can be served via their twitter account.

 

http://www.micexchange.com/MJ/index.php/mice-news/mice-business-news/mice-technology-news/1615-conference-tweeting-legal-issues-to-consider

 

My guess is that it won’t be long before most countries where we do business will have their own version of CAP. I suggest that you ensure these legislations are included in your plans.