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MONTH IN REVIEW Avoiding Privacy Pitfalls on Social Media BY SANDI CAIN, NEWS EDITOR Washington, DC – Trade show organizers and associations might be all a-Twitter about using social media, but the road to using it effectively also is littered with hazards. Not the least of those is privacy concerns generated by social media, which Barbara F. Dunn, an attorney who repre- sents clients in the meetings and incentive industries, addressed in a June webinar staged by M&C; magazine. Dunn said social media is among the top five legal concerns for meetings today. Other areas are: intellectual property of copyrights, trademarks and patents; defamation, anti-trust issues, privacy and trade secrets. "A lot of social media includes copyrighted material," she said. Social media sites themselves have been under scrutiny. In recent months, MySpace was accused of allowing advertisers ac- cess to personal data and was required to implement a privacy program, while Facebook instituted a new privacy policy aſter European authorities pressured the company for more disclosure, according to Washington, DC-based Electronic Privacy Information Center. And people search site Spokeo was fined $800,000 for violating privacy law in its data marketing. A big issue for show organizers is the use of copyrighted material. While permission may be granted to use copy- righted and trademarked material in promotional show materials, those rights may not extend to a website or social me- dia without a separate agreement, Dunn said. "Make sure you have the right to use any item before proceeding," she advised. Privacy issues come in to play at reg- istration, when personal and credit card data are provided. Dunn said the best way to ensure privacy on those issues is to use a service that has effective encryp- tion technology for credit card data. Providing social media outlets at conventions and trade shows is almost a necessity today, but it's also important that organizers remind attendees that organizers do not control the content on things like Twitter feeds or Facebook posts. "You don't want to be responsible for that," she said. In addition, she said organizers should follow privacy policies to the letter and let attendees know what information may be shared with sponsors or others to avoid problems. Even innocuous photos of the audi- ence at a general session could generate privacy concerns if not handled properly. Dunn said it's best to get permission from attendees if their images could appear in electronic or other media. Alerting at- tendees with signage that indicates which sessions are being recorded and putting a notice about photographic images in the registration materials are acceptable methods for notifying attendees about image policies. Speaker agreements also should be reviewed for specifics about the use of photos. Providing social media outlets at conventions and trade shows is almost a necessity today, but it's also important that organizers remind attendees that organizers do not control the content on things like Twitter feeds or Facebook and Pinterest posts, Dunn said. She also sug- gested that shows have a clear process for removing material from show or company sites if it violates privacy or intellectual property rules. 8 August 2012 | Trade Show Executive