Whether it’s Youtube for videos or Flicker for photographs, the ever increasing demand for entertainment leads to the creation of more and more websites dedicates to displaying amateur “art” in the hopes of widespread popularity. As evidenced by the recent sale of YouTube to Google for $1.65 Billion, once a website gains widespread popularity, riches are not far away. This trend has increased the demand for new and entertaining content. Most times such services rely on self-submitted videos, photos or articles, but as more sites pop up, available supply dwindles. Consequently, a phenomenon commonly referred to as “website hacking” has become more and more popular. This form of hacking occurs when an individual uses some service or sight to put up their own video, photo or blog, in order to share that particular medium with known friends. Hackers looking for new and original content will often hack this information and use it on their own site, in an attempt to gain hits and popularity in the effort to be the next YouTube.

An employee should never assume that they’re emails that are sent and received, are kept in complete privacy from their employers. Under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) it provides for implied authorization to review employee emails, and that a company should state their policy of monitoring e-mails in the company handbook. However, pursuant to Title III of the ECPA, it unlawful for anyone to intentionally intercept any email communication while it is en route. ECPA 18 USC 2701.

Many sites put up privacy policies without giving them much thought. Once up, they are often forgotten about even if the policy is later changed. This can lead to disaster as one recent case showed.

You probably are not surprised to learn that lying in your privacy policy can get you into trouble. You will definitely be surprised to learn, however, that your competitors could be the parties suing you. Even worse, they could sue you for millions and win! How could this be? It all boils down to competition. In this case, claims of unfair competition.

So you have a hot idea for a website, or maybe you want to capitalize on a hot new product that has just been released. There are some things that you will want to know first before you get yourself in a lot of hot water.

Choosing a domain name isn’t really rocket science but it is very important. You want to choose something that is as short as possible, easy to pronounce and remember for marketing purposes, and if at all possible you want to get your main keywords in the domain name. All that aside, you also have to be careful that you don’t step on the toes of a person or company who may be inclined to sue you.