Category: Website Management

Hackers Go Phishing in Beeple’s Deep Pool of Twitter Followers

“Stay safe out there, anything too good to be true is a … scam.” Beeple, a popular digital artist, tweeted to his followers, addressing the phishing scam that took place on May 23, 2022, targeting his Twitter account. The attack reportedly resulted in a loss of more than US$400,000 in cryptocurrency and NFTs, stolen from the artist’s followers on the social media website.

After hacking into Beeple’s Twitter account, perpetrators tweeted links from the artist’s page, promoting a fake raffle for unique art pieces. The links would reportedly take the user to a website that would drain the user’s cryptocurrency wallet of their digital assets.

Phishing scams for digital assets, including NFTs or non-fungible tokens, have steadily increased, with funds as large as $6 million being stolen. Various jurisdictions have adopted privacy and security laws that require companies to adopt reasonable security measures and follow required cyber incident response protocols. A significant part of these measures and protocols is training for employees in how to detect phishing scams and other hacking attempts by bad actors. This incident is a reminder to consumers to exercise vigilance, watch for red flags and not click on links without verifying the source.

The remaining summaries of news headlines are separated by region for your browsing convenience. 

UNITED STATES

Relaxed Deaccessioning COVID-19 Exemptions Expire

The global COVID-19 pandemic brought many changes, including dire financial consequences of the shutdowns for museums. In April 2020, the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) made a decision to ease the rules that dictate how museums may use proceeds from art sales. Until April 2022, museums were permitted to use the funds for “direct care of collections” rather than to procure new artworks for their collections.

This relaxed policy and some of the museums that followed it met with backlash on more than one occasion; others, however, advocate for its continuation, citing considerations of diversity and inclusion. Some further argue that a policy born out of financial desperation should be continued to provide museums with the means to overcome any future financial issues that may arise.

Given that “direct care” is vague and open to interpretation, opponents of the relaxed rules counter giving museums such latitude to decide on the use of the proceeds, as it can lead to abuses and bad decisions. While AAMD has returned to its pre-pandemic regulations, and museums have followed suit, it appears that the public debate around deaccessioning is far from over.

Inigo Philbrick Sentenced to a Prison Term

Former contemporary art dealer Inigo Philbrick was sentenced by a federal court in New York to serve seven years in prison for a “Ponzi-like” art fraud, said to be one of the most significant in the history of the art market, with more than an estimated US$86 million in damages. Philbrick stood accused of a number of bad acts, including forging signatures, selling shares in artworks he did not own and inventing fictitious clients.

New York Abolishes Auction House Regulations

As the U.S. government is studying whether the art market requires further regulations to increase transparency and to combat money laundering, New York City repealed its local law that required auctioneers to be licensed and required disclosures to bidders, including whether an auction house had a financial stake in the item being auctioned. While the abolition of the regulation was ostensibly to improve the business climate after the pandemic, some commentators note that the regulations were outdated and not serving their purpose in any event. As an illustration, a newcomer to an auction will likely struggle to understand the garbled pre-action announcements or their significance. Whether the old regulations are to be replaced with new, clearer rules remains to be seen.

EUROPE

Greece and UK to Discuss Rehoming of Displaced Parthenon Marbles

The Parthenon marbles, also known as the Elgin marbles, have been on display in London’s British Museum for more than 200 years. These objects comprise 15 metopes, 17 pedimental figures and an approximately 250-foot section of a frieze depicting the birthday festivities of the Greek goddess Athena. What museum goers might not know is that these ancient sculptures were taken from the Acropolis in Greece in 1801 by Lord Elgin.

Previously, the British government, seeking to retain the sculptures, relied on the argument that the objects were legally acquired during the Ottoman Empire rule of Greece. However, for the first time, the UK has initiated formal talks with Greece to discuss repatriation of the Parthenon sculptures. These discussions are expected to influence future intergovernmental repatriation negotiations.

ASIA

Singapore High Court Asserts Jurisdiction over NFTs after Ruling Them a Digital Asset

The highest court in Singapore has granted an injunction to a non-fungible token (NFT) investor, Janesh Rajkumar, who sought to stop the sale of an NFT that once belonged to him and was used as collateral for a loan. The subject NFT from the Bored Ape Yacht Club Series is a rarity, as it depicts the only avatar that wears a beanie. Rajkumar now is seeking to repay the loan and have the NFT restored to his cryptocurrency wallet. The loan agreement specified that Rajkumar would not relinquish ownership of the NFT, and should he be unable to repay the loan in a timely manner, an extension would be granted. Instead of granting Rajkumar an extension, the lender, who goes by an alias “chefpierre,” moved to sell the NFT. The significance of the Singapore court’s decision is two-fold: the court has (1) recognized jurisdiction over assets cited in the decentralized blockchain, and (2) allowed for the freezing order to be issued via social media platforms.

THE MIDDLE EAST

Illegal Trading Leads to Raiding of Antique Dealer by the Israeli Authorities

A recent raid on an unauthorized antiquities dealer in the city of Modi’in by the Israel Antiquities Authority recovered hundreds of artifacts of significant historical value, including jewelry, a bronze statue and approximately 1,800 coins. One the coins is a nearly 2,000-year-old silver shekel of great historical significance. The coin is engraved with the name Shimon, leader of the 132–136 C.E. Bar Kokhba revolt.

Investigations are ongoing to determine where the antiquities were obtained. The Antiquities Robbery Prevention Unit intends to charge the dealer and their suppliers upon obtaining this information.

Article By Jana S. Farmer and Meenka Maharaj of Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP

For more entertainment, art, and sports news, click here to visit the National Law Review.

© 2022 Wilson Elser

Alcohol Suppliers Hit with ADA Website Accessibility Lawsuits

The increasing popularity of online shopping is placing e-commerce businesses—specifically those in the alcohol beverage industry—in legal crosshairs. In lockstep with a recent uptick in website accessibility cases, plaintiff firms are sending pre-suit demand letters to alcohol suppliers and, in some cases, even filing a state or federal court lawsuit. These lawsuits—which are typically filed in California or New York—involve claims that a supplier’s website is not accessible to individuals who are blind in violation of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and related state laws. In these cases, plaintiffs seek attorneys’ fees, damages (only under state law) and injunctive relief that would require the website to conform with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) standards, which have been broadly adopted by courts and regulators.

To prevail on a website accessibility claim, plaintiffs must first show that a defendant is a private entity that owns, leases or operates a “place of public accommodation.” Courts, however, are split on what it means for a website to be considered a place of public accommodation under Title III of the ADA. While some jurisdictions require that there be a “physical nexus” between the website and a brick-and-mortar store, other jurisdictions have permitted these cases to go forward against a website-only company that does not own or operate any physical retail location.

In addition to establishing that the supplier’s website is a place of public accommodation, the plaintiff must satisfy certain jurisdictional requirements which will depend upon whether products can be purchased directly from the website as well as whether the supplier ships to the state in which the suit was filed. Leveraging these defenses (among others) will be critical when it comes to either convincing the plaintiff to withdraw the claim, filing a motion to dismiss or achieving an early resolution on favorable terms.

Due to the rise in these website accessibility lawsuits, we encourage industry members to take a proactive approach:

  1. Train personnel on accessibility requirements and WCAG standards.
  2. Test the website against WCAG standards (through independent consultants or user testing).
  3. Retain testing documentation to demonstrate that users with disabilities can fully use the website.
  4. Assess potential areas of non-conformance with WCAG standards.
  5. Work with internal/external technical teams to implement accessibility features into the website.
  6. Develop an accessibility policy that informs users about the company’s accessibility practices.
  7. Consider including a link to the website accessibility policy on every webpage, including a reporting option that is appropriately routed to address accessibility issues.
  8. Regularly audit the website to assess its level of accessibility (particularly after website updates).
  9. Engage legal counsel to minimize litigation risk associated with website accessibility issues, including whether the ADA is applicable to the company’s website in light of the current state of the law.

Article By Jeremy White and Alva C. Mather of McDermott Will & Emery

For more biotech, food, and drug news, click here to visit the National Law Review.

© 2022 McDermott Will & Emery

Protection for Voice Actors is Artificial in Today’s Artificial Intelligence World

As we all know, social media has taken the world by storm. Unsurprisingly, it’s had an impact on trademark and copyright law, as the related right of publicity. A recent case involving an actor’s voice being used on the popular app TikTok is emblematic of the time. The actor, Bev Standing, sued TikTok for using her voice, simulated via artificial intelligence (AI) without her permission, to serve as “the female computer-generated voice of TikTok.” The case, which was settled last year, illustrates how the law is being adapted to protect artists’ rights in the face of exploitation through AI, as well as the limits of current law in protecting AI-created works.

Standing explained that she thinks of her voice “as a business,” and she is looking to protect her “product.” Apps like TikTok are taking these “products” and feeding them into an algorithm without the original speaker’s permission, thus impairing creative professionals’ ability to profit in an age of widespread use of the Internet and social media platforms.

Someone’s voice (and aspects of their persona such as their photo, image, or other likeness) can be protected by what’s called the “right of publicity.” That right prevents others from appropriation of one’s persona – but only when appropriation is for commercial purposes. In the TikTok case, there was commercial use, as TikTok was benefiting from use of Standing’s voice to “narrate” its users’ videos (with some user videos apparently involving “foul and offensive language”). In her Complaint, Standing alleged TikTok had violated her right of publicity in using her voice to create the AI voice used by TikTok, and relied upon two other claims:  false designation of origin under the Lanham Act and copyright infringement, as well as related state law claims. The false designation of origin claim turned on whether Standing’s voice was so recognizable that another party’s misappropriation of it could confuse consumers as to whether Standing authorized the Tik Tok use. The copyright infringement claim was possible because Standing created the original voice files for a company that hired her to record Chinese language translations. TikTok subsequently acquired the files but failed to get a license from Standing to use them, as TikTok was legally obligated to do because Standing was the original creator (and therefore copyright owner) of the voice files.

As with other historical technological innovations (one of the earliest being the printing press), the law often plays catch-up, but has proven surprisingly adaptable to new technology. Here, Standing was able to plead three legal theories (six if you count the state statutory and common law unfair competition claims), so it seems artists are well-protected by existing law, at least if they are alleging AI was used to copy their work or persona.

On the other hand, the case for protecting creative expression produced in whole or in part by AI is much more difficult. Some believe AI deserves its own form of copyright, since innovative technology has increasingly made its own music and sounds. Currently, protection for these sounds is limited, since only humans can be identified as authors for the purposes of copyright. Ryan Abott, a professor of law and health science at the University of Surrey in Britain, is attempting to bring a legal case against the U.S. Copyright Office to register a digital artwork made by a computer with AI as its author. The fear, says Abott, is that without rights over these sounds, innovation will be stifled — individuals will not have incentive to create AI works if they cannot protect them from unauthorized exploitation.

Article By Jeanne Hamburg of Norris McLaughlin P.A.

For more communications, media, and internet news,  click here to visit the National Law Review.

©2022 Norris McLaughlin P.A., All Rights Reserved

Thailand’s Personal Data Protection Act Enters into Force

On June 1, 2022, Thailand’s Personal Data Protection Act (“PDPA”) entered into force after three years of delays. The PDPA, originally enacted in May 2019, provides for a one-year grace period, with the main operative provisions of the law originally set to come into force in 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the Thai government issued royal decrees to extend the compliance deadline to June 1, 2022. 

The PDPA mirrors the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) in many respects. Specifically, it requires data controllers and processors to have a valid legal basis for processing personal data (i.e., data that can identify living natural persons directly or indirectly). If such personal data is sensitive personal data (such as health data, biometric data, race, religion, sexual preference and criminal record), data controllers and processors must ensure that data subjects give explicit consent for any collection, use or disclosure of such data. Exemptions are granted for public interest, contractual obligations, vital interest or compliance with the law.

The PDPA applies both to entities in Thailand and abroad that process personal data for the provision of products or services in Thailand. Like the GDPR, data subjects are guaranteed rights, including the right to be informed, access, rectify and update data; restrict and object to processing; and the right to data erasure and portability. Breaches may result in fines between THB500,000 (U.S.$14,432) and THB5 million, plus punitive compensation. Certain breaches involving sensitive personal data and unlawful disclosure also carry criminal penalties including imprisonment of up to one year.

Article By Hunton Andrews Kurth’s Privacy and Cybersecurity of Hunton Andrews Kurth

For more communications, media & internet news, click here to visit the National Law Review.

Copyright © 2022, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP. All Rights Reserved.

Patch Up – Log4j and How to Avoid a Cybercrime Christmas

A vulnerability so dangerous that Cybersecurity and Infrastructure (CISA) Director Jen Easterly called it “one of the most serious [she’s] seen in [her] entire career, if not the most serious” arrived just in time for the holidays. On December 10, 2021, CISA and the director of cybersecurity at the National Security Agency (NSA) began alerting the public of a critical vulnerability within the Apache Log4j Java logging framework. Civilian government agencies have been instructed to mitigate against the vulnerability by Christmas Eve, and companies should follow suit.

The Log4j vulnerability allows threat actors to remotely execute code both on-premises and within cloud-based application servers, thereby obtaining control of the impacted servers. CISA expects the vulnerability to affect hundreds of millions of devices. This is a widespread critical vulnerability and companies should quickly assess whether, and to what extent, they or their service providers are using Log4j.

Immediate Recommendations

  • Immediately upgrade all versions of Apache Log4j to 2.15.0.
  • Ask your service providers whether their products or environment use Log4j, and if so, whether they have patched to the latest version. Helpfully, CISA sponsors a community-sourced GitHub repository with a list of software related to the vulnerability as a reference guide.
  • Confirm your security operations are monitoring internet-facing systems for indicators of compromise.
  • Review your incident response plan and ensure all response team information is up to date.
  • If your company is involved in an acquisition, discuss the security steps taken within the target company to address the Log4j vulnerability.

The versatility of this vulnerability has already attracted the attention of malicious nation-state actors. For example, government-affiliated cybercriminals in Iran and China have a “wish list” (no holiday pun intended) of entities that they are aggressively targeting with the Log4j vulnerability. Due to this malicious nation-state activity, if your company experiences a ransomware attack related to the Log4j vulnerability, it is particularly important to pay attention to potential sanctions-related issues.

Companies with additional questions about the Log4j vulnerability and its potential impact on technical threats and potential regulatory scrutiny or commercial liability are encouraged to contact counsel.

Article By Philip J. Bezanson, Brittney E. Justice, Claire E. Cahoon, and Seth D. DuCharme of Bracewell LLP

For more cybersecurity legal news, click here to visit the National Law Review.

© 2021 Bracewell LLP

What the Top 200 US Law Firms Do Right: Trends in Thought Leadership & Social Media Strategy

Writing thought leadership content is an important part of many law firms’ marketing strategies. Thought leadership content allows attorneys to share their expertise, connect with current and future clients and create a brand for themselves. However, articles and blog posts are not the only way attorneys can share their thought leadership. Video, podcasts and social media posts are additional avenues for attorneys to pursue.

According to the 2021 Thought Leadership Index from Passle, a professional services marketing platform dedicated to legal and consultancy firms, law firms created 60 percent more content in 2020 than the year before. Passle’s report analyzed thought leadership and social media activity from the top 200 US law firms in 2020, finding that these firms created over 70,000 pieces of content last year, with many firms shifting their focus to YouTube.

The report found that by volume alone, Baker McKenzie produced the most thought leadership content in 2020 with 4,164 posts, or .88 per attorney. Squire Patton Boggs followed at 2,794 posts, or 1.82 per attorney.

When it comes to social media, Baker McKenzie came out on top again with 310,000 followers on LinkedIn, while personal injury practice Morgan & Morgan came out on top with YouTube video views of over 8 million. The firms with the most followers on Twitter included White & Case with 64,000 followers, DLA Piper with 41,000 and Latham & Watkins with 37,000.

The National Law Review sat down with James Barclay, CEO of Passle Inc., and Sam Page, Marketing Director for Passle to discuss the trends from the report, and how law firms and their attorneys can apply these insights to their own thought leadership and social media efforts.

How Can Law Firms Create More Thought Leadership Content?

At first, producing regular thought leadership content may seem like an intimidating task. Firms must develop a strategy for content production, and perhaps more importantly, find time for attorneys to produce that content. However, with the right knowledge and careful planning, the process becomes less daunting. In a profession with ever-growing workloads and ever-shrinking turnaround times, how can a law firm enable attorneys to produce effective thought leadership?

To streamline the thought leadership creation process, it is critical to understand what kind of content creates the most value for a law firm. The term “thought leadership” may call to mind significant investments of time – white papers and lengthy reports, which show a depth of knowledge and are great for SEO  – but this is not necessarily the case. According to Passle, effective thought leadership can also range from 100 to 300 words.

“The audience for a lawyer, as a general counsel, is other lawyers inside large businesses,” Mr. Page said. “Those people are really busy themselves. They don’t have a lot of time. They won’t read multi-page reports with 50,000 words. So the effective content that you see a lot of people creating is short.”

“It has to come from the lawyers,” Mr. Barclay added. “They’ve got thousands of hours of experience. That means that when they talk about a subject, they get right to the nub of it. And it’s usually that the more niche it is, the better, because that’s what their clients pay them by the minute for.”

Ensuring attorneys have a stake in the content they create is a vital aspect of thought leadership. “If you can make it quick and easy for lawyers to create authentic, timely, expert-led content, then those lawyers will find their voice and they’ll use their voice, and they enjoy it,” said Mr. Barclay.

The simplest way to accomplish this is to build around the firm’s pre-existing goals and items. Many attorneys in the United States and the United Kingdom use thought leadership as a tool for appraisals, as it allows them to demonstrate to clients their areas of special expertise. Further, thought leadership can also be a mechanism for promotion. Mr. Barclay explained:

“If you’re running an event, do a video and say, ‘Come to our event.’ It takes two minutes and it’s authentic because it’s your attorney who’s speaking,” he said.

Law firms may also choose to develop governance and approval processes for the thought leadership is published. Many attorneys suffer from impostor syndrome, which sometimes cripples their ability to produce timely content. Official protocols and workflows not only maintain a high quality of work, they also allow lawyers to develop their voice in a streamlined environment.

Ultimately, the metric for success is much lower than one might expect. According to Passle’s report, in 2020, the average law firm produced 800 total pieces of thought leadership content. This amounts to only 0.8 pieces of content per attorney. Though generating content on a regular basis might seem a herculean task, these statistics show that an effective thought leadership plan is relatively low-commitment. In practice, if every attorney at a firm produced one thought leadership insight a month, that law firm would already be well ahead of their  competitors.

How to Create a Successful Law Firm Social Media Strategy

Another important aspect of thought leadership content creation is social media. Having a presence on platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube allows law firms and their attorneys to have a platform to showcase their expertise and connect with current and future clients. When it comes to thought leadership content, empowering attorneys to have a voice on social media can make a huge difference.

“It’s very difficult to tell a late 40s lawyer, ‘Go on Twitter. Get on Twitter or get on LinkedIn. You must do it.’ But if you say, ‘Hey, create something that’s going to be really interesting to Bob, Jennifer, Eileen, and your other key clients. Generate a piece of content, and then of course, make sure you share it with them and the best place to share it with them is LinkedIn. Then … that all makes sense,” Mr. Barclay said.

Attorneys and law firms can also think of social media as another asset the whole team can leverage. For lawyers in a certain niche, social media can be a powerful tool to bring in new clients and connect with existing ones.

“Attorneys don’t want to sell, they’re not salespeople. They want to talk about what they know. And then of course, what they know is really, really, really valuable to the people who they’re trying to influence,” Mr. Barclay said. “And that’s what’s neat about attorneys is that they’re not going online trying to sell something. They’re going online talking about their tiny little niche, and that’s exactly what their audience wants.”

One of the key things Mr. Barclay and Mr. Page said the top performing law firms do on social media is create an authentic image. For lawyers and law firms wanting to stand out in a crowd of others online, including a bit of personality into posts can go a long way. Lawyers can appear more authentic if they keep in mind who their clients are and what they need when creating their thought leadership content.

“It’s got to be authentic, it’s got to be timely and it’s got to showcase some of you. Again, folk don’t tend to employ a law firm, they don’t talk about their law firm, they talk about their lawyer. It’s a very personal one-to-one relationship,” Mr. Barclay said.

When it comes down to it, lawyers often need a reason to use social media, Mr. Page said. What often motivates lawyers to use social media is the ability to create content and have a voice. As the Passle report shows, the most successful law firms have both a strong social media presence and a solid content strategy.

“When lawyers have a voice, when they are able to create content, they have a reason to use social media. So if they are told to be on social and they just hover there without a purpose, it’s difficult to see a reason to do it, [and] it’s difficult to find any sort of outcome,” he said.

What Makes a Strong Law Firm Content Strategy?

In the new era of virtual engagement, it is vital that firms take steps to control their online presence. Mr. Barclay explains how focused, regularly published thought leadership articles are central to a firm’s success.

“Most attorneys we talked to don’t have hundreds of clients. 80 percent of their billable hours in any one year comes from 15, 20, 30 clients,” Mr. Barclay said. “If [you] can give them a great piece of authentic online content, then of course that’s a fabulous vehicle for recommendation referral, which is where new business comes from.”

By understanding these trends and taking control of their online presence, attorneys can easily communicate their expertise, maximize their referrals and increase their revenue. The most successful firms understand that small investment of 30 minutes to one hour can reap tremendous benefits. Oftentimes, the best way to facilitate these investments is through a group effort. The most successful law firms also empower not just the partners of the firm to create thought leadership, but associates and law clerks as well.

“The essence of those firms that reach the top of that list, is that they enable a wide range of their fee earners to create content,” Mr. Page said. “They’re not just relying on the select few partners that tend to come from a similar background, [and] have a similar way of thinking and a similar view of the world. The firms that succeed are generally the firms that enable their associates, or even their trainees, to create content and to have a voice within the firm.”

This article was written by Rachel Popa and Chandler Ford of the National Law Review.

3 Things You Need To Know About Penguin 3.0

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Penguin is an algorithm from Google that judges the quality of links that you have pointing to your site. Inbound links, sometimes called “backlinks,” to your website are one of the factors that Google’s algorithms use to rank websites in its search results. Google uses the Penguin algorithm (or filter) to punish link profiles that it sees as low-quality (coming from untrustworthy sites) or unnatural.  This is a response to linking practices used in the early days of search marketing, and still employed by some vendors, to show clients’ quick success.

3 Things You Need to Know about Penguin 3.0

In the early days of the Web and SEO, the sheer volume of links (and linking domains) to a website helped its rankings in Google Search results.  Many early SEO companies prospered by buying and selling links, creating directories and setting up other sites for the sheer purpose of creating content and supplying links. This was an exploit used for years by almost every search marketing vendor to gain rankings for their clients.  Since April of 2012, Google has used Penguin to dissuade webmasters from this practice for fear of losing all rankings for their websites.

As Google crawls the Web and finds a link to your site, it places them in a particular database of known links.  If you are bored, you can read through the original paper by Sergei Brin and Larry Page.  Penguin is a separate algorithm that is run periodically to parse through this database of links pointing to your site to check against known spam sites and known manipulative techniques.

In an explanation of Penguin 3.0 for Forbes magazine, Jayson DeMyers says Penguin “rewards sites that have natural, valuable, authoritative, relevant links.” It penalizes sites that have built manipulative links solely for the purpose of increasing rankings, or links that do not appear natural.

Penguin was introduced in April 2012 and updated twice that year with versions 1.1 and 1.2. Penguin 2.0 came out in May 2013 and an October update (2.1) had a fairly wide affect, causing Google ranking changes in about 1 percent of sites.

Penguin 3.0 was released in mid-October in what Google said could be a slow rollout. For some websites, Google said, it could be a few weeks until Penguin 3.0 had an effect, which would be about the time of publishing this article.

Here are the top 3 takeaways from the first days of Penguin 3.0:

1.  Penguin 3.0 may have little impact on quality websites.

Upon its introduction of Penguin 3.0, Google said: “(W)e started rolling out a Penguin refresh affecting fewer than 1 percent of queries in U.S. English search results. This refresh helps sites that have already cleaned up the Web spam signals discovered in the previous Penguin iteration, and demotes sites with newly discovered spam.”

This indicates that Penguin 3.0 will adjust rankings for sites that were adversely affected by earlier versions of the Penguin algorithm, but have since cleaned up offensive links.

But, if your site is still plagued by low-quality links, Penguin 3.0 will have an effect on you, and the impact – “demotes sites with newly discovered spam” – should be in line with earlier iterations of Penguin.  The word to note here (bolded) is that Google’s Pierre Far, called this a refresh, intimating that no new signals were added to this release.

2. Penguin 3.0 means you need to evaluate your links.

To avoid a penalty via Penguin 3.0 or to recover from it if Google has already penalized your site, you need to make sure you are not adding bad links that will hurt your site. You also need to rid your site of bad links pointing to it.

To avoid Penguin penalties, you want to review the type of links pointing to your site.  This can easily be done in Web Master Tools by using their tool to download a list of Sample and Latest links to your site.  Some of the items to look for are:

  • Links from foreign domains (ie. walre.co.pl)
  • Links sites that contain many hyphens (ie. best-personal-injury-lawyers-us.com)
  • Sites that are obviously off-topic (ie. a site about fishing would not normally link to an attorney’s site)
  • Large quantities of links from a particular domain.
  • Large percentages of commercial anchor text in the links pointing to your site.  (If you see anchor text that you would love to rank for in Google, then it is commercial.  Commercial should not make up more than about 10% of your anchor text.)

Removing bad links can be tedious and tricky. First you have to identify them and then you have to figure out how to get them taken down. You can simply contact the site that hosts them (if you can find a contact) and ask for it to be removed. Google also provides a “disavow tool,” by which you can ask Google not to take into account certain links when assessing your site.

But Google’s disavow tool come with two warnings: 1) “You should still make every effort to clean up unnatural links pointing to your site. Simply disavowing them isn’t enough.” And deeper on Google’s Webmaster tools site, 2) “This is an advanced feature and should only be used with caution. If used incorrectly, this feature can potentially harm your site’s performance in Google’s search results.”

3. If you’ve invested in a search marketing campaign, you need to know how your provider is obtaining links to your site.

Building links to your site cannot just be something you expect your marketing provider to do. How it is done can ultimately affect your business, and could adversely impact your overall revenue if your website is penalized by the latest Penguin update or by future Penguin updates.

The biggest takeaway from all Penguin updates is that you need to know how your vendor, your provider, is getting links for you. If they are not working directly with you, then it is likely a scaled process, meaning that their tactics are low quality and potentially harmful.

Instead, your vendor should be working to obtain links from sites that represent highly regarded authorities in your field. In addition to direct outreach to request backlinks, which may have limited cost effectiveness, firms may build links by community outreach, such as sponsoring organizations or public events in the community, which would publicize the firm. Or establishing a scholarship for local students and promoting it to area schools and school systems, which would link to scholarship information on your site. If a member of a law firm teaches at a local college or sits on a corporate or non-profit organization’s board, those organization’s sites may link back to that individual’s profile on your site.

Obtaining high quality backlinks is not always the easiest road, but it is the road well worth traveling, especially in the post-Penguin era.

Are You Ready for the Coming Explosion of Cybersquatting?

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The next wave of domain-name barbarians is gathering outside the gates. Here’s what you need to do now to keep your trademarks, and your e-commerce, safe.

Almost every business has had to deal with cybersquatters – pirates that launch web sites designed to divert customers by using domain names that mimic the business’s trademarks.

Until now, the war has focused primarily on domain names within the “.com” sphere. But the battlefront is about to expand – dramatically.

The international body that runs the Internet (called ICANN) has recently begun releasing new generic top-level domains (“gTLDs”). In addition to the familiar “.com,” this program makes it possible to set up a business name, a trademark, a geographic designation – virtually any word in any language – as a gTLD in its own right. Almost 2,000 applications for gTLDs were filed, and more than 1,000 will ultimately be granted. Because many of the new gTLDs will sell domain names to all comers without any attention to whether they are violative of someone else’s trademark rights, they will create a giant new arena in which domain name pirates can operate.

So what should you do now to protect your brands and your domain names?

1. Lock up the family jewels.

ICANN has mandated the creation of a Trade Mark Clearing House, in which owners can list their registered trademarks. It has also required that all newly-released gTLDs offer a 30-day “Sunrise” period in which owners of marks listed in the TMCH get first crack at registering them as domain names. In addition, during the Sunrise period and for sixty days thereafter, other parties that apply for those marks will be advised of the TMCH listing and, if they pursue their application, the owners of the TMCH-listed marks will be notified, giving them an opportunity to invoke various dispute-resolution procedures.

The Trademark Clearance House is now in operation, and it makes sense for brand owners to list at least their “core” trademarks there. These are the marks in which you have invested the most time, energy, and money; the ones most closely associated with your business; the ones you have already had to protect most often in the .com realm.

2. Plan now to make preemptive registrations in gTLDs of particular interest.

An important limitation of the Trade Mark Clearing House is that it protects only against domain names that are identical to your registered trademarks, not to common misspellings, typos, and so on. This leads to a second important step: being prepared to file preemptive domain name registrations for common variations of your brand.

Now is the time to identify specific gTLDs in which you will be especially interested in and to watch for their release dates. For instance, if you’re in the auto industry you will likely want to be active in such gTLDs as “.auto,” “.car,” and the like. As soon as the Sunrise period for one of your identified gTLDs opens, be ready to file immediately. This is an instance where the best defense is a vigorous offense.

Many brand owners were caught unawares years ago when the Internet burst upon the scene, and control of brand-related domain names became crucial. There’s no way to stop the next wave of cyberpiracy. But there’s also no reason not to be prepared for it.

Article by:

John C. Blattner

Of:

Dickinson Wright PLLC

How Lawyers Can Leverage LinkedIn to Build Their Practice, Part 1 of 2

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I think we can all agree that building long-term, meaningful and influential relationships is foundational to a successful legal practice. People don’t hire law firms; they hire an attorney. The more people you connect with, the more opportunities you have to build meaningful relationships, and the more potential clients you can generate.

With over 225 million members in over 200 countries, LinkedIn has quickly become THE ‘go to’ business-to-business directory and the most popular social networking platform dedicated to professional business development.

Here are some of the top tips from attorneys who have used LinkedIn to their advantage and know they have gained new clients from its smart use:

1. Complete Your Profile! You must commit to do this. You can’t ever hope to get the benefits without this. Put in as much information about yourself as you can. Use the same keywords and phrases prospects would use to search for an attorney in your practice area on Google.

Sometimes just where you went to college or law school can drive business or referrals to your firm. I know plenty of attorneys who have generated referrals because they went to the same school as someone else on LinkedIn, or grew up in the same hometown. Creating a shared reality with a prospect can be a powerful step toward acquiring their business. Also, certain applications with LinkedIn require that your profile be at least 50 – 75% complete in order to benefit from them.

2. Upload A Photo. Don’t be shy here. Don’t think about whether it’s right or wrong, just do it. A profile with no picture is a bad thing. LinkedIn is a social network for business professionals so your photo should convey that. Stay away from the photo of you on the golf course or holding a glass of wine. If you don’t have a professional headshot, they are available from any photography business for a nominal fee.

3. Use The Headline Below Your Profile To Make People Want to Know More.

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When you set up your profile, LinkedIn uses your name, title or position as your headline, but you can edit this to make it more powerful. Try to think of your headline as your professional tagline. You have the opportunity to describe the type of attorney you are and the type of work you are currently doing. Do not make the mistake of listing more than two areas of law here, as you want to appear as a specialist. Specialists generate more referrals than generalists. Remember the phrase, “jack of all trades, master of none!”

4. Use The “Sharebox” Often. If you want to see the social power of LinkedIn, this is where you will find it. This area of LinkedIn allows you to add a brief update of what you are doing, any new professional certifications you have received, interesting cases or any other information you feel comfortable sharing. This is not a ‘chat’ site; it is for information that is professionally relevant.

In tomorrow’s post, I will share 5 more tips for leveraging LinkedIn to build your client and referral base.

Article by:

Stephen Fairley

Of:

The Rainmaker Institute

5 Ways to Boost Your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Right Now

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On October 21, I posted an interview that originally appeared on LawMarketing.com about the latest Google Penguin update andwhat it may or may not have done to affect legal websites.

John Jantsch over at the Duct Tape Marketing blog had a good post last week about the 5 ways you can boost your SEO right away, taking into consideration the latest Google search engine update:

1. Boost your social share. Google is giving a lot more juice to social share signals, so add the Google +1 and Facebook Like or Share buttons at the top of each page of your website or blog.

2. Use larger embedded images. This can help your blog posts you put on Facebook get shared more, and sharing is the name of the game right now. Facebook recently redesigned their posts to make images a lot more prominent; the new standard for images is 600 x 1200 pixels.

3. Zero in on long tail keywords. In a competitive category like law, going after the long tail keywords that people use to search for your services will help your SEO. Jantsch recommends using Long Tail Pro, a keyword research tool that is easy to use and inexpensive.

4. Use micro data with rich snippets. If you use WordPress for your blog or website, be sure to add the micro data plugin. Micro data is HTML code used by search engines to identify categories of text and Google uses it to understand website pages better. You can learn more about this on Google’s Webmaster blog.

5. Build relationships with authorities for your category. Just like it is important to build a good referral network offline, it has become increasingly important for you to do it online – it’s just known as building authority relationships. Find authors in your practice area that rank high in search and find ways to connect with them to foster a value-added relationship.

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