A presentation delivered on June 7, 2018 at the Law & Society Association annual conference in Toronto, Canada.

1. If You Tweet
in the Woods,
Can You Be Fired?
Frederick S. Lane
Law and Society Association
Toronto, Canada
7 June 2018

2. Home Institution

3. Books About Privacy

4. • 2018-05-30 – 2 Little Caesars employees fired for vulgar
social media posts about customer
• 2018-05-29 – Roseanne Barr’s show is cancelled by ABC
after she makes racist comments on Twitter
• 2018-05-15 -- Commissioner says Boston firefighter fired
over anti-LGBTQ social media posts
• 2018-04-18 – 'I’m happy the witch is dead': Muslim Fresno
State professor sparks outrage as she celebrates the death of
Barbara Bush - calling her an 'amazing racist' who 'raised a war
criminal’
• 2018-03-03 – An hourly Marriott employee got fired for
liking a tweet praising company for acknowledging Taiwan
• 2017-10-04 – CBS executive's disastrous Facebook post on
Vegas shooting
Sample Headlines

5. 1. Free Speech
2. The Right to Privacy
3. Branding/
Reputation
Three Competing Values

6. Free Speech!!

7. • Athens and Rome (~500 B.C.E.)
• England Bill of Rights (1689)
• French Declaration of Rights (1789)
• First Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution (1791)
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(1948)
• Canadian Charter of Rights and
Freedoms (1982)
Origins of “Free Speech”

8. • “Free” As In Unrestricted
• “Free” As In Unimpeded
• “Free” As In Without
Cost
• “Free” As In Without
Consequences
Defining “Free”

9. • Legal Limitations (Obscenity)
• Statutory and Regulatory
Restrictions (“Free Speech Zones”)
• Contractual Agreements (NFL)
• Social Constraints (Peer Pressure)
• Personal Choice (Self-
Censorship)
Free Speech Is Not Absolute

10. A Hard Truth
“Freedom’s Just Another
Word for Nothing Left to
Lose.”
-- Janis Joplin
“Me and Bobby McGee” (1971)

11. The Right to Privacy

12. Postcards & Privacy

13. Photography in the 1880s

14. “The Right to Privacy” (1890)

15. Early Computing

16. Social Security Number

17. Credit Cards

18. IBM 701

19. It’s a Mobile World

20. The Smartphone Revolution

21. Cellphone Privacy Does Exist

22. Endless Social Media Options

23. Selfie-Inflicted Wounds
• Thanks to Mobile Devices and the
Internet, We Generate and Share
HUGE Amounts of Data About
Ourselves Every Second of the Day:
• Over 8,000 Tweets
• 844 Instagram Photos
• Nearly 67,000 Google Searches
• Over 73,000 YouTube Videos Are Viewed
• Nearly 2.7 Million Emails

24. Selfie-Incrimination
• What You Post Can and WILL Be
Used Against You:
• 2018-05-09 – MI Man gets life in prison
over murder committed on Facebook Live
• 2018-01-17 – Canadian woman convicted
of murder after clue found in Facebook post
• 2018-01-05 – Chicago woman charged
after shooting another woman on Facebook
Live
• 2017-07-06 – 2 Women Arrested after
Boasting on Snapchat about Breaking Into
Amusement Park at 4am to “Ride All the
Slides”

25. So … Can You Be Fired?

26. The Power of Social Media
• Social Media Helps to Level Playing
Field for Employees and Consumers
• A Single Post Can Damage or Ruin a
Brand
• Starbucks, United Airlines, Adidas,
etc.
• The Speed of Social Media Requires
an Equally Fast and Aggressive
Response
• Roseanne Bar Was Dropped by ABC in
Just 11 Hours

27. Limited Recourse
• Public / Private /
Independent Contractors
• Declining Power of Unions
• Private vs. Public Fora
• Private vs. Public Statements
• “Retweets and Likes Are
NOT Your Own”

28. Contact Information
• FSLane3@gmail.com
• 802-318-4604
• @FSL3, @Cybertraps
• www.FrederickLane.com
• http://www.fredericklane.com/the-
cybertraps-blog/
• ww.linkedin.com/in/fredericklane/
• www.slideshare.net/FSL3

29. If You Tweet
in the Woods,
Can You Be Fired?
Frederick S. Lane
Law and Society Association
Toronto, Canada
7 June 2018