Cyber Torts And The Workplace - 2122 Words

Internet Abuse in the Workplace This is your introduction. If you need help writing this paper you can view the Writing Cyber-Torts in the Workplace A tort is recognized as conduct that results in an injury or damages that are legally recognized (Lau Johnson, 2014). Torts that occur on the Internet are referred to as cyber-torts. In the workplace, there are multiple cyber-torts that employees may commit, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Examples of such cyber-torts are cyber defamation, trespass to chattels, and conversion. Cyber-Defamation Cyber-defamation occurs when something is written about a company that is untrue and defamatory, meaning that it has the ability to damage the company’s reputation (Mew, 2013). Four major†¦show more content†¦Lastly, a company must have suffered damages from the defamation (Mew, 2013). It is important to note that damages caused by cyber-defamation do not necessarily have to be physical in nature; for example, if a company’s revenue decreases significantly after a cyber-defamation and the company can prove that the revenue decrease was a direct result of the defamation, this would be considered a damage to the company. Trespass to Chattels This tort was traditionally only applied to the physical trespassing of physical property until the year of 1996 (Quilter, 2002). In the case of Thrifty-Tel, Inc., v. Bezenek, two minors hacked into phone company Thrifty-Tel’s records and made it so that they were able to make long-distance calls for free (Quilter, 2002). When this case made it to the courtroom, the judge deemed that electronic signals and touches were able to â€Å"trespass† and get into the company’s records (Quilter, 2002). Also from this case, it was determined that occurrences such as having to pay employees for extra time (due to lack of productivity from hacking) and customer goodwill could be considered damages, even though they were not physical in nature (Quilter, 2002). Negligence In the workplace, negligence is a commonly occurring tort.