November 24, 2008

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Dear {!firstname}:

Welcome to Your WEBSITE LAW ALERT by Chip Cooper and DigiContracts.com

Chip's Commentary:

I'm looking forward to the Thanksgiving holiday.

Christmas is way too hectic to be really enjoyable for me... too busy and unrealistically high expectations.

Thanksgiving is a really relaxing holiday for me... traditional turkey dinner with all the great sides (my grandmother used to cook the best collard greens), a good, light-bodied Beaujolais, family and friends, and a rivalry football game (or two). A great holiday!

Best wishes to you and your family for a relaxing and enjoyable Thanksgiving.

Future Legal Developments:

One of the hot topics among some Internet pundits is prognosticating what the new Obama administration and the Democratic congress will mean for online businesses.

I've given it some thought, and here's my take on it.

Privacy - the Bush administration has been reluctant to push for more regulations, particularly ones that may add additional burdens to small businesses. Consequently, we do not have a federal privacy statute of general application. We do have statutes that affect certain business segments such as HIPAA (medical records) and Gramm-Leach-Bliley (personal financial records). The state of California has a statute that is required for any business that deals with California residents, and this statute has become a virtual de facto federal statute.

Expect the new Congress to pass a new federal statute with that is similar to the California statute. This may have the effect of being deemed to be "adequate" privacy protection by the EU.

Data Security - at present, we have a total of 44 states with separate security breach notification laws. While these laws are similar in that they require victims of security breaches to be notified, they are all a little different in how they approach the issue. The result -- a confusing patchwork of laws that is very difficult and expensive to navigate.

Expect the new Congress to pass a new federal statute dealing with security breaches that will preempt these state statutes and create a uniform set of requirements.

Identity Theft - the new Red Flag rules go into effect on May 1. If you haven't read my article referenced in the last newsletter regarding its application to online businesses, click here.

Expect aggressive enforcement of these rules. I'll be adding a Red Flag compliance document for online businesses to our ContractMaker service in the next couple of weeks.

Online Advertising - in the last couple of years or so, the FTC has been concerned about new technologies that allow tracking of customers and customer profiling for marketing purposes. For an article regarding behavioral advertising, click here.

Expect the new Congress to pass a pass new laws regulating this type of online advertising.

The bottom line - expect more regulations.

Comments From Digicontracts.com:

We've now completed our re-do of the pricing page and the related pages that explain the uses for each document in our ContractMaker service.

We've also added the option to purchase a subscription for single document. Previously, we've only offered documents grouped as libraries or sets.

For a look at the new pricing page click here.

Regards,

Share the "Website Law Alert" and my Special Reports:
"Determine Which Legal Documents Your Website Really Needs",
"Draft Your Own Website Privacy Policy", and
and "Write Your Own Website Marketing Copy - Legally",
with your colleagues and business associates.