The California Supreme Court Didn’t Ruin Section 230 (Today)–Hassell v. Bird

I previously described the case facts: “A lawyer was unhappy with a Yelp review about her. The lawyer sued the putative author (with dubious service of process), got a default ruling that the review was defamatory along with a removal…

The “CREEPER Act” Would Be Yet Another Unconstitutional Law from Congress (Guest Blog Post)

by guest blogger Alex F. Levy On June 13, 2018, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed legislation targeted at so-called “child sex dolls.” The Curbing Realistic Exploitative Electronic Pedophilic Robots (CREEPER) Act would amend 18 U.S.C. § 1462 (which currently restricts…

Challenge to Santa Monica’s “Anti-Airbnb” Law Dismissed–Homeaway v. Santa Monica

Numerous cities have passed “anti-Airbnb” laws, including Santa Monica. Santa Monica’s regulation, like San Francisco’s, regulated the provision of “booking services” to unlicensed vendors. Airbnb and HomeAway challenged Santa Monica’s regulation. In March, citing the Airbnb v. SF ruling, the…

Catching Up on FOSTA Since Its Enactment (A Linkwrap)

Catching Up on FOSTA Since Its Enactment (A Linkwrap)

Some links of note about what’s happened since the enactment of the Worst of Both Worlds FOSTA: * ReplyAll podcast on the Worst of Both Worlds FOSTA’s harmful effects on sex workers. One sex worker reports she knows of 13…

Twitter Isn’t a Shopping Mall for First Amendment Purposes (Duh)–Johnson v. Twitter

Multitudinous lawsuits–mostly by political “conservatives”–seek to deprive social media services of their property rights to exclude unwanted customers. Or, more precisely, these lawsuits seek to censoriously restrict the social media services’ First Amendment-protected right to free speech/press by forcing them…

Snapchat’s Speed Filter Not Protected by Section 230–Maynard v. Snapchat

Christal McGee allegedly drove recklessly (over 100 mph) to capture her accomplishment in Snapchat’s speed filter. McGee’s car hit Maynard’s car and caused permanent brain damage to someone in the car. The Maynards sued Snapchat, alleging “Snapchat knew that its…

Appeals Court Curbs FTC's Enforcement of Security Standards--LabMD v. FTC

Appeals Court Curbs FTC’s Enforcement of Security Standards–LabMD v. FTC

This is an FTC enforcement action against LabMD. A LabMD billing manager installed a peer-to-peer file-sharing application called LimeWire and designated the “my documents” folder on her computer for sharing. This folder contained a 1,718 page file with names, dates…

Court Allows "Battery by GIF" Claim to Proceed--Eichenwald v. Rivello

Court Allows “Battery by GIF” Claim to Proceed–Eichenwald v. Rivello

Journalist Kurt Eichenwald suffered a seizure after seeing a tweet with a strobe GIF. The sender tweeted the GIF allegedly knowing Eichenwald suffered from epilepsy. The sender was charged criminally, and Eichenwald also filed a civil suit. Defendant moved to…

Craigslist Sex Sting Prosecution Rejected as “Outrageous Misconduct”–Washington v. Solomon

This case’s setup resembles dozens or hundreds of similar cases I’ve read. In 2014, a law enforcement officer (in this case, Skagit County Sheriff’s detective Theresa Luvera) posted a sex solicitation on Craigslist’s casual encounters. As we’ve discussed before, Craigslist’s…

President Trump Violated the First Amendment by Blocking Users @realdonaldtrump

President Trump Violated the First Amendment by Blocking Users @realdonaldtrump

This is a lawsuit brought by Twitter users and the Knight Foundation against President Trump (and his social media strategist and press secretary). The lawsuit alleges that the President violates plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights by blocking them on Twitter. The…