Protecting User Rights: Practical Issues Facing Early Stage Companies
Channel: Access Now
Date: 14/03/2014

Sarah Altschuller, Associate, Foley Hoag LLP 
Vivek Krishnamurthy, Associate, Foley Hoag LLP (Moderators) 

Participants: 
Dalia Topelson, Clinical Instructor, Cyberlaw Clinic, Berkman Center for Internet & Society 
Ebele Okobi, Global Head & Senior Legal Director, Human Rights, Yahoo! Inc. 
Jane Shih, Assistant General Counsel, Endurance International Group

Online services that facilitate communication or store data for their customers are targeted by governments, criminals, and others for a wide variety of reasons both legitimate and not. Given these trends, even early-stage technology companies need to understand the regulatory landscape governing the information that they collect, store, process, and transmit on behalf of their customers. This session provided start-ups with advice on cost-effective best practices they can implement to minimize the legal and reputational risks that they face. Representatives from an early-stage technology company as well as from one of the world's largest internet companies shared their perspectives on these issues. Topics covered ranged from why even early-stage companies need to develop content takedown procedures, to how they should approach data collection and retention when designing a new product or service.