CNBC's "Power Lunch": Cyber Attack Shuts Down Twitter
New York office Managing Partner George Stamboulidis appeared on the August 6, 2009, edition of CNBC's "Power Lunch" program discussing the cyber attack which shut down the popular social networking site, Twitter.
According to the story, this security breach should act as a reminder to corporate executives to be very careful as to what they Tweet about. Asked what executives should know and consider about Twitter, Stamboulidis said, "As representatives of the company, who are essentially 'always on,' even when they're on personal time . . . they are always representing the company and they need to keep that in mind. As the line between business and social networking tends to blur, they need to keep that [in mind]."
Stamboulidis was asked why an executive would choose to use Twitter to communicate, versus email or other means. Stamboulidis said, "Those of us who are new to Tweeting, were once new to emailing and resisted it as well . . . I think you have to be open-minded, but [executives] have to be careful because they have fiduciary obligations . . . and duties, and they have federal regulations they are bound by."
Asked how legally binding correspondence via Twitter is or could be, Stamboulidis said, "It's your word. It can cost you your reputation if you're reckless, whether it's binding or not binding, and it could be as binding as an email . . . it could be the basis of a civil lawsuit or a criminal prosecution. If somebody is Tweeting out insider information, they could be prosecuted."
Click to watch the full interview from the CNBC website.