In our previous post we discussed how network data breaches can lead to cyber liability. In this post we explore liability that firms face from just having a presence on the web. Whether you are actually doing “business” with your web site is irrelevant. As this liability is similar to those found in the publishing industry they are frequently referred to as publishing or media exposures. Additionally, social media tools such as Facebook, blogs and Twitter can also expose a company to law suits to defend themselves from claims of injury from copyright or trademark infringement, defamation/libel or violation of privacy. We will delve into this more in a future post but be warned that a standard general liability policy will not cover any of these publishing claims if they stem from your use of the internet or web site to broadcast your message.

This is a weekly series of blog posts on interesting, pertinent or little known topics on insuring your business properly. It is my belief that in insurance, “What you don’t know can hurt you!” After reading these posts I hope you will have a better understanding of the nature of the threats you and your business face. These articles are not designed to cover every conceivable risk that your business will encounter. However, I do hope that my writing will stimulate your thoughts on ways to organize your business in a manner that first minimizes or avoids all the risks that you can before you buy insurance. I also hope I can promote a dialogue between you and your insurance professional on unavoidable risks facing your business. Again, this is always the first step to take before you purchase any insurance. Armed with this information, I hope you and your agent will be able to perform a realistic cost benefit analysis for insuring only residual risk thereby maximizing the ROI on your insurance dollars.