Legal Research

"Social Media Use Could Affect Insurance Premiums"

This post was written by Omar Ha-Redeye:  "David Canton previously mentioned privacy concerns with status updates on social media.  But these concerns could translate into higher premiums for homeowners as well, simply for using social media.

The Telegraph is predicting that premiums in the U.K. could be adjusted in the future to reflect the supposed inherent risk in participating on social media platforms,

... "Criminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their information gathering, even using Google Earth and Streetview to plan their burglaries with military precision. Insurance providers are starting to take this into account when they are assessing claims and we may in future see insurers declining claims if they believe the customer was negligent."

The article also provides some advice to mitigate some of these risks, including not posting home address or home phone on social media platforms, refusing invites from people you don't know, and turning off location-based services."

Continue reading this interesting post and reach the active links by clicking on the author's name.

Source: Slaw.ca, 21 February 2010. Reproduced with permission of Simon Fodden, founder of Slaw.

Full post as published by Stark County Law Library Blawg on February 22, 2010 (boomark / email).