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Expecting the Unexpected: Technology Law Issues for Every Small Business – Part 2

October 11, 2019

This is part two of a three-part series outlining the topics of discussion from our presentation to the Southern Lancaster County Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, October 10.

Yesterday, Brandon Harter and I had the pleasure of presenting to a full house of Southern Lancaster County Chamber of Commerce members at the Quarryville Library. Thank you to all who attended and we enjoyed a friendly competition and lively discussion of various ways that technology law impacts every small business in 2019.

If you were unable to attend or if you’d like a brief summary of what was discussed, here’s additional information on two of the discussion topics from yesterday’s event:

 You Are Responsible for Your Marketing

When you outsource some or all of your marketing efforts to a marketing or social media company, you are ultimately responsible for what they post. You should consider what the internal processes could look like to make sure that the message is appropriate, and contract language that can help protect your business.

We also discussed making sure you have access to your website’s domain name to make sure that registrations don’t lapse, which can cause a huge headache and result in someone else selling your web address back to you.

Learn more about web development pitfalls on the Lancaster Law Blog here: Web Development Pitfalls and Legal Issues to Address When Someone Else Creates or Manages Your Business Website

 Data Breach Notification Triggers

We learned about Pennsylvania’s data breach notification statute, which requires notification when personal information stored on a computer is or may have been accessed by an unauthorized person. Personal information is defined as an individual’s first name or first initial and last name when linked to a social security number, driver’s license number, or financial account number.

Data breaches aren’t always a hacker gaining access to your system. Data breach events requiring notification can occur when you lose a mobile device and personal information from your business is stored on it, or by attaching the wrong file to an email. If you suspect that you may have disclosed personal information, we recommend contacting your IT professional and your technology attorney as soon as possible to determine a plan for action.

Learn more about data breach notification on the Lancaster Law Blog here: When Does a Data Breach Require Disclosure Under Pennsylvania’s Data Breach Notification Act?

Check back next week for more information that we discussed during the presentation.

Matt Landis is an attorney at Russell, Krafft & Gruber, LLP, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He received his law degree from Widener University Commonwealth School of Law and works regularly with business owners and entrepreneurs. Matt is one of the founding members of the RKG Tech Law Group.