Month: February 2010

Cybersquatting – Not Just for Brands

Posted on by jbourne

On January 29, the Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA), which FairWinds helped found and runs, hosted a policy forum here in Washington, D.C.  The forum focused on emerging challenges for the Internet community in 2010, specifically the future of ICANN under the Affirmation of Commitments (AOC) and potential reform to the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act.  Attendees heard from two panels regarding these issues, which featured brand owners, online policy experts and Congressional staff members.  The keynote address was given by Senator Stephen Urquhart (R-UT 29th District), the Chairman of the Utah State Senate Transportation and Public Utilities and Technology Committee.  Urquhart recently introduced the E-Commerce Integrity Act to the Utah state legislature. This bill is designed to make the state of Utah more business-friendly by creating greater deterrents to prevent cybersquatting: firstly, the bill raises the damages that can be levied on a cybersquatter, and secondly, it holds affiliates of domain name registrants liable if it is found that they benefit from cybersquatting behavior.

In addition to Sen. Urquhart, representatives of Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee; and Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee spoke on the panels.  Cybersquatting is an issue that hits close to home for the Senators they work for: PatrickLeahy.com and JohnDRockefeller.com both point to pay-per-click (PPC) sites.  (JayRockefeller.com, however, does lead to the Senator’s Web site.) SteveUrquhart.com also leads to a PPC site.

When discussing the problem of cybersquatting, much of the attention often gets focused on businesses and infringements on brands and trademarks.  However, individuals like politicians and celebrities are also frequently the victims of squatting and other malicious conduct online. It’s great to know that Senator Urquhart and Congressional staff members understand this issue, and we’re happy to have them involved in efforts to create a safe, stable and flourishing Internet.

FINRA Offers Guidance on Blogs and Social Networking Web Sites

Posted on by jbourne

With hundreds of social media Web sites, business and personal communication are rapidly changing to real-time. Social media is in front and center position now in organizations and discussions are taking place not only among the security team but within marketing, sales, human resources and even at executive levels.

Firms in the financial services sector in the US have asked the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), a private corporation that acts as a self-regulatory organization (SRO), the successor to the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), on how rules governing communications with the public apply to social media sites that are sponsored by a firm or its registered representatives. FINRA responded in January 2010 with a Regulatory Notice to provide guidance to firms on blogs and social networking web sites in financial services.

For financial services firms, social media brings Legal and Compliance (L&C) plus Corporate Communications into the discussion to refocus attention on information security and risk management concerning customer contact, recommendation of investment products, liability and reputational risks.

The Regulatory Notice 10-06 addresses adopting policies and procedures on how firms and their registered representatives could use social media sites for legitimate business purposes and in a manner that ensures investor protection. The notice describes the challenges for a firm’s compliance program; providing personnel with routine access to approved communications and templates; record keeping of communications, complaints and orders related to a broker-dealers business made through social media sites; suitability requirements of product recommendation (NASD Rule 2310) and how firms must monitor interactive electronic forums on static (LinkedIn) versus non-static sites (Facebook, Twitter). L&C need to be copied in on communications between non-research and research departments, personnel need to be restricted to establish accounts, disciplinary action must be enforced if policy is violated, disclaimers need to appear plus the “entanglement” and “adoption” theories with respect to third-party content posted on sites established by the firm or its personnel must be considered and dealt with in an appropriate manner.

Social media sites pose new requirements and costs for supervisory systems, technology investments and social competency across a matrix of departments. FINRA’s regulatory notice is important guidance for financial institutions and we might see other federal regulators produce similar responses going forward.