State CIOs, AGs and Facebook Create Model Agreement for Use
A model agreement between state chief information officers, attorneys general and Facebook addresses legal concerns state and local governments may have regarding social media use.
A 2010 survey administered by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) found that while the use of social media tools by governments is growing, state CIOs are continually concerned with issues regarding terms of service, security, privacy, records management and acceptable use. In the survey, a majority of states said appropriate terms of service and guidelines would enable their governments to advance their use of social media. To address this, members of NASCIO and the National Association of Attorneys General worked with Facebook to modify its terms and conditions for state and local government agencies. The Facebook changes address issues like indemnity and where and how legal disputes are to be handled. NASCIO anticipates that this agreement could be used as a model for future relationships between state and local government agencies and other social media providers.
