A Look at the Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights Act of 2011
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] The Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights Act of 2011 Senators McCain and Kerry recently introduced the Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights Act of 2011. It will probably go through various iterations before being enacted, and its…
FTC Warns Debt Collector About Using Facebook to Contact Debtor
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] In the Matter of Gary D. Nitzkin, P.C. (FTC Letter; Mar. 10, 2011) Debt collectors have gotten into trouble over the use of social media to contact debtors. (See “Judge Orders Creditor to Stay Off Debtor’s…
Bulk Emailers (Mostly) Lose Three 47 USC 230(c)(2) Rulings–Holomaxx v. Microsoft/Yahoo & Smith v. TRUSTe
By Eric Goldman I’ve been so behind that it’s taken me until now to blog these cases from last month. All three opinions involve the same basic fact pattern: a bulk emailer gets blocked by an email service provider (relying…
Judge Recognizes Loss of Value to PII as Basis of Standing for Data Breach Plaintiff — Claridge v. RockYou
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with comments from Eric] Claridge v. RockYou, 2011 WL 1361588 (N.D. Cal.; Apr. 11, 2011) RockYou is a developer and publisher of applications for use with Facebook, MySpace, hi5, and Bebo. RockYou’s applications allow users to…
YouTube and its Amici File Their Briefs in the Viacom v. YouTube Appeal
By Eric Goldman I’m catching up with the YouTube-side briefs in the Viacom v. YouTube appeal. (See my analogous post on the Viacom-side briefs). Once again, Michael Barclay has been kind enough to organize the briefs into a single post….
Announcing DoctoredReviews.com, a Website Against Doctors’ Efforts to Squelch Online Patient Reviews
By Eric Goldman I’m pleased to announce the launch of DoctoredReviews.com, a website that addresses Medical Justice’s form contract that seeks to restrict patients’ online reviews of doctors by taking a prospective copyright assignment in the patients’ unwritten reviews. Medical…
UC Irvine Virtual World Conference Notes
By Eric Goldman Last week, I attended and spoke at a conference at UC Irvine entitled “Governing the Magic Circle: Regulation of Virtual Worlds.” I didn’t take notes for every speaker, and as usual, these notes are my impressions, not…
Court Smacks Down Lawyer Who Tries to Enforce Copyright in 23 Word Email — Stern v. Does
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Stern v. Does, 09-cv-01986 (C.D. Cal.; Feb. 10, 2011) Professor Goldman mentioned this case in his quick links roundup, but I think it’s worth a standalone post. A lawyer sends an 23 word email to a…
Contacting a Person’s Facebook Friends Isn’t Stalking–People v. Welte
By Eric Goldman People v. Welte, 2011 WL 1331900 (N.Y. Just. Ct. April 7, 2011). The defendant was subject to the following order protecting the mother of his two children: “Respondent is to have no contact with Petitioner including personal…
Intelius Dodges a Bullet Over Allegedly Deceptive Online Marketing Practices — Hook v. Intelius
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Hook v. Intelius, 10-CV-239(MTT) (M.D. Ga.; Mar. 28, 1011) I mentioned a class action in Washington against Intelius over its online sales practices in a couple of weeks ago. (“Intelius May be Liable for Deceptive Online…