News Releases

PHILADELPHIA--Feb 23, 2012--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ACE USA, the U.S.-based retail operating division of the ACE Group, today announced the availability of a new podcast exploring potential business benefits and risks of using social media. While the many benefits are certainly worth pursuing, the risks of social media should be understood as well. These risks may be reputational, legal, and operational in nature, and can have an impact on privacy, intellectual property, and employment practices, among other significant issues.

The new ACE social media podcast, “Social Media: The Business Benefits May be Enormous, But Can the Risks – Reputational, Legal, Operational – be Mitigated?” is based on an ACE Progress Report^SM of the same name. It was authored by: Toby Merrill, Vice President, ACE Professional Risk; Kenneth Latham, Vice President, ACE Professional Risk; David Navetta, Esquire, CIP, Partner, Information Law Group; and Richard Santalesa, Esquire, Senior Counsel, Information Law Group.

“The opportunity to use social media to interact with anyone, anywhere, at any time is too big to ignore, and it has changed the way companies approach advertising and promotion through the media,” commented Mr. Merrill. “Once you’ve taken the steps to mitigate the considerable reputational, legal, and operational risks, your company will be in the best possible position to reap the enormous business benefits of social media participation.”

Mr. Latham added, “Social media opens up a whole new world of privacy, security, intellectual property, employment practices, and other legal risks. It’s important to understand the considerable downside that exists hand-in-hand with the remarkable upside of using social media for business.”

Mr. Santalesa added his perspective, “Organizations seeking to incorporate social media into their business strategy may want to follow certain practices to ensure their corporate safety online -- including identifying the laws and legal risks that may apply -- and design programs to mitigate that risk to an acceptable level.”

The authors’ commentary is part of ACE Progress Reports, a collection of white papers, articles, and executive reports on current and emerging risk management issues, and the podcast was produced in conjunction with the Information Law Group.

To access the podcast, please visit our website. The material presented in the podcast is not intended to provide legal or other expert advice. It is presented as information only. Listeners should consult legal counsel or other experts, as applicable, with any questions they may have.

About the Information Law Group: The Information Law Group was established in October 2009 to provide efficient and high quality legal services at an affordable price. The firm concentrates on legal issues concerning privacy, data security, information technology, e-commerce and intellectual property. The Information Law Group addresses a broad spectrum of legal matters, including transactions and e-commerce, compliance, breach notice and incident response and litigation. The lawyers of the Information Law Group have successfully served a diverse range of clients: from large Fortune 500 multinationals and name-brand traditional brick-and-mortar companies, to small start-ups and technology service providers.

About ACE Group:

ACE USA is part of the ACE Group, a global leader in insurance and reinsurance serving a diverse group of clients. Headed by ACE Limited (NYSE:ACE), a component of the S&P 500 stock index, the ACE Group conducts its business on a worldwide basis with operating subsidiaries in more than 50 countries. Additional information can be found at: www.acegroup.com.