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Tort Court Issues

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Internet use has become more popular in the last two decades, while in the 80' and 90's the common communication channels were phone and fax, electronic email has become the norm in the new century; computers and internet use have become ordinary commodities at the workplace. Common knowledge and internet etiquette (netiquette) teach us essential rules of proper behavior for internet use. It is imperative that we understand that in the business world, netiquette must go beyond simple rules of common sense and courtesy, and most companies rely on established policies and internal controls to assure that employees understand the importance of following ethical and legal guidelines when using the internet. These policies are also important …show more content…

In a tort civil suit, compensatory and punitive damage amounts are awarded in favor of the plaintiff; some conditions need to exist for a tort to be ruled in favor of a plaintiff. Contrary to a criminal trial, if the defendant is found guilty, he/she only needs to pay the ordered compensatory damages to the plaintiff, without the need to spend time incarcerated. There are intentional torts, and torts cause by negligence. The intention here is to enlighten you and your employees of the possible consequences of certain internet usage. There are a number of situations that can bring down a tort civil suit on an employer; among them is sexual harassment, which has become a common phenomenon of the internet as read in this excerpt, "Sexual Harassment is the use of sexualized intimidation, insult, and threat to exert control over women. On the Internet, such behavior is more common and more outrageous than in the physical world because of the anonymity of the communications medium and the disproportionate number of men using it (Waerner, 2016)." Another cause for torts is dissemination of confidential information; an employee(s) disclosing confidential information pertaining clients through the use of technology, can put an employer a risk for a tort suit. An important thing to remember is that nowadays, most files can be sent electronically, and downloads are enabled with just a click of couple of keys, special care need s to be taken to avoid malware or toher risk associated with viistng at risks sites. Another tort can be for intentional infliction of emotional distress on someone by a person who exhibited severe and outrageous behavior intentionally (Legal Information Institute, 2016). This can be done through the internet in the form of harassment and cyberspace bullying, a common issue in social media. Trespass can bring up a

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