GET SET TO BE STUNNED - The Drum

THE DRUM OCT.12.12 www.thedrum.com AGENDA07
digital
Interoperability key to
modernity of vehicles
By ensuring in-car systems are interoperable with
partners’ applications, manufacturers can future
proof their vehicles and remain modern and relevant.
media
Legal implications of MEC
viral resignation email
Kieran Allen’s resignation letter has long since gone
viral, but what are its legal implications Sarah Bazaraa,
dispute resolution solicitor at Pannone, takes a look.
Ford of Europe is appealing for partnerships
with ‘innovative developers’
to enable their applications to work
on its cars from next year onwards.
Duncan Burrell, manager of connected
services at Ford of Europe revealed
to Mobile Marketing Live delegates in
London that the car manufacturer had
thought long and hard about how to
make sure its cars remained modern and
relevant.
Car owners are showing a penchant
for bringing their own applications into
cars on a single smartphone rather than
buying in-vehicle or electronic accessories.
In fact, motorists are now ten times
more likely to navigate on their smartphone
than through a navigation system,
he revealed.
Hence, partnering with the companies
behind the applications its drivers want
to use has been decided as more preferable
than developing its own downloadable
tools.
“There are so many applications out
there, the last thing people would want
are a load of Ford-specific applications,”
explains Burrell.
“So our strategy is to move forward
in partnership with application developers
and that’s what we’ve been doing in
North American since 2010. We have an
API (application programming interface)
which partners work with to ensure their
applications work on the screen inside a
Ford and is interoperable with our voice
recognition systems and steering wheel
buttons.”
The strategy, which is expected to see
a raft of Ford-compatible apps launched
next year, is already in place in North
America, following a similar previous
appeal for application developers to join
its American API partnership programme.
Burrell explains the partnership route
is constructed around three elements of
‘built-in’, ‘brought in’ and ‘beamed-in’ –
meaning the screens and systems inside
cars need to be interoperable with multiple
devices and the applications they use to
bring content to driver and passengers.
In North America this has seen partnerships
forged with several companies,
such as music service Pandora and radio
provider Tune-In.
Burrell emphasised that the partnership
API route was the least risky
means of ensuring its cars offer drivers
a pleasurable experience. With a model
expected to go on sale for a decade
and be on the road for twenty years
it would be impossible for anybody to
predict now what services a car should
be launched with.
However, by ensuring its cars work
with partners’ applications, all Ford has
to do is provide the necessary interoperability
and leave it to the developers to
react to market demand and launch relevant
new applications and updates.
Kieran Allen’s email of 25 September
2012 initially reads as a fairly standard
resignation letter to his fellow
colleagues at MEC Media. “It feels
quite strange to be writing my leaving
speech after 2 ½ years…I leave in a
position where I can go and further my
career in digital and for that I pay MEC
great tribute,” he writes. However,
what follows is a set of incredible allegations
regarding the conduct of Mr
Allen’s manager, which unfortunately
for his manager, have now gone viral.
The allegations made by Mr Allen are
highly personal and accuse his manager
of expressing discriminatory and prejudicial
views.
A full transcript of Mr Allen’s email has
sparked huge social media interest with
the resignation email trending on Twitter.
The scandal caused by Mr Allen’s
email has since proved to be a hit with
publications such as Loaded Magazine
and a number of online and print publications.
However, what may be considered
sensational front page gossip by tabloid
newspapers and across the social media
world may cause irreparable damage to
the reputations of all those involved.
Mr Allen, the former senior account
manager at MEC, complains in his resignation
letter of the treatment he allegedly
received from his manager at the
media agency, accusing him of gross
misconduct. However, Mr Allen may not
have done himself any favours by circulating
his email amongst his colleagues
in circumstances where a complaint may
be expected to be pursued through the
company or statutory grievance procedures
or via the employment tribunal.
The publication of any untrue statement
of fact which has the potential
to cause damage to the reputation of
an individual or organisation may give
grounds to sue for defamation.
Depending on the facts, a claim could
in principle be brought against Mr Allen
as the writer of the email, as well as any
third party publishers who repeat the
allegations made by Mr Allen in light of
the particular context in which his allegations
are repeated.
Publishers should bear in mind that the
law as it stands affords a claim in defamation
in respect of each publication of an
untrue statement of fact. Those repeating
the allegations made by Mr Allen could
therefore also potentially be put on notice
of a claim in defamation, and should carefully
consider how they may report on the
story to ensure they do not adopt the allegations
of Mr Allen as being fact.
The case is a timely reminder of the
power of social media. An email addressed
to a specific group of individuals
can now in the hands of the wrong people
be instantly available to a global online audience.
Clearly, the more people that read
Mr Allen’s email, the greater reputational
damage which may be caused. Reputational
damage may not only in this instance
have been caused to Mr Allen’s manager
and to MEC, but to Mr Allen himself as
the aggrieved ex-employee. Having seen
how far his email has travelled, it may be
that Mr Allen wishes he could now press
the “recall” button.
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