SECURITY AND POLICY

Information Security Process Planning
A security breach that compromises your company's information assets (e.g., trade secrets or personal information) can produce catastrophic publicity - remember the ChoicePoint case from late 2005? Companies are facing an emerging body of law requiring them to employ "reasonable security" in their IT operations and/or disclose security failures. Counsel's involvement in information security planning can make the difference between disaster and effective risk management. Dickinson Wright lawyers can help assure that your IT systems satisfy legal requirements, frequently while enhancing their operational effectiveness. We have helped the world's third-largest computer network operator and can help you, too.

E-Mail/Internet/Chat/Web Policies
Some areas of U.S. business already face highly detailed instant messaging requirements (e.g., in the financial services arena), but all companies should have an appreciation of the issues associated with employee use of email, the internet, and even telephone communication systems. From acceptable use policies to website terms & conditions, to monitoring employee traffic to delivering effective training programs, we have written the book (Employee Use of the Internet and E-Mail: A Model Corporate Policy: With Commentary on Its Use in the U.S. and Other Countries (ABA Press, 2002)). We can help your company achieve "best-practice" status.

Personal Information Privacy (e.g., State, federal and international rules)
While "breach notification" statutes have emerged in more than twenty states, and federal legislative activity progresses, there also are a plethora of sector-specific laws (e.g., Gramm-Leach-Bliley and HIPAA) and regulations (e.g., through FTC enforcement actions) governing personal information privacy. And that is just in the United States. Europe's data protection laws are being mimicked in Southeast Asia and Latin America, and afflicted multinational companies are passing along their compliance obligations to suppliers and subcontractors (are you one of them?). Our lawyers have helped design internal compliance programs (both under FTC "Safe Harbor" facilities and through alternative inter-company agreements) that satisfy legal requirements in an operationally friendly fashion. In related areas we can help assure that your marketing programs comply with various anti-SPAM rules, that your Customer Relationship Management systems legally collect "personal information" about your clients and suppliers, and that your H.R. managers have ready resources to help them deal with employee privacy questions.

CONTRACT ISSUES

Electronic Contracting
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) emerged in the early 1990s because business demanded more efficient ways of contracting (especially with pre-existing suppliers and customers). Today's business environment expects more flexibility, and electronic contracting (even with unknown parties) is part of the normal course of business. But important questions remain: do you follow recognized "best practices" for e-contract formation? If you participate in a B2B marketplace, who owns the information about your use of the system and the meta-information about the overall marketplace? What kind of antitrust issues might affect your participation in the marketplace? How would you prove that your employee followed a required e-contracting process, and created a legally effective agreement? In some of these quickly changing areas keeping pace is difficult but Dickinson Wright lawyers know where the landmines lie and are working to clarify the law (e.g., through the American Bar Association). For more-settled areas of e-contracting, we have been there from the beginning (e.g., as Chair of the ABA's Cyberspace Law Committee).