A Personal Disclaimer: Necessity or Capitulation?
The Scales of Justice
The emergence of social media over the last 10 years has forever changed the way in which we interact with our world. Many people probably believe the invention of the Internet was the real game changer, but I would like to challenge that. While the Internet has changed the way we live, but when viewed for what the Internet is, it is (and has been) nothing more than the vehicle for innovation.
Remember back in the late 1990’s when the buzzword term “Information Superhighway” was used to describe the Internet? What image does that invoke in your mind? Would it perhaps be a large, multi-lane modern freeway? Our modern freeway infrastructure, born out of the aftermath of World War II, is nothing more than the next evolution of the road that humanity has used for thousands of years. What sets the modern freeway apart from its ancestors is the scale and efficiencies on which it operates, The freeway is largely responsible for many both positive and negative innovations of the last 50 years; had the American freeway infrastructure never been laid, the life we are accustomed to and live today would not have been possible. Yet the existence of the freeway did not cause these innovations and industries to appear out of the ether. The Internet is no different.
What we know as social media today is already different from what social media was three years ago; can you imagine where social media will be in another 10 years? The social media industry and community have been traveling at warp speeds into uncharted territory, all of which would not have been possible with out the Internet facilitating the means of transportation. But anytime new territory is explored, be it the ships of old set off to discover the New World, the rockets that propel us into space, or the Internet and our virtual existence, the element of risk is both a motivator and a moderator to our actions.
Risk is typically defined as a situation with the possibility of being exposed to danger or something unpleasant exists. Risk management, part science, part gut, and part magic, aims to predict and control the level of risk experienced at any given point (since risk is never completely unavoidable). For many people living today, managing risk is more complicated now than it has ever been in the existence of mankind. While the hardships and greater potential for death that existed 100 years ago have diminished, they were often fewer and much more apparent to those living at the time. Today, our world contains an order of magnitude greater number of personal pitfalls, many of them shrouded by a labyrinth of legal text.
People use social media for a variety of reasons, personally and professionally. The “how” and “why” of social media is an individual matter; one can not be told how to use social media, only that they should use social media in whatever method best fits their lifestyle. However, the risk to an increasing number of individuals today is that what fits the individual does not necessarily fit the [lifestyle or image of] organizations, communities, and groups an individual might belong to. Most importantly, many employers have taken a critical eye to social media, for a variety of reasons, often as the result of a risk management assessment.
Because of the pace in which social media is evolving, our current legal system has been required to set new precedents or pass written laws in an attempt to address issues that before now have never been an issue to anyone or anything. Lack of consistency and uniformity only complicate the situation. The proverbial legal pendulum is still it its upward climb and is not even close to reaching equilibrium, at least in my opinion. Within the context of my own personal, risk management assessment, how am I do help protect, insure, and indemnify my person against risk? I see an increasing number of individuals who use social media who include a personal disclaimer on their site. Is it truly necessary and just an example of a “sign of the times”, or is it a knee-jerk reaction to something that will simply work itself out in the Halls of Justice?
