Yahoo Partially Defeats Lawsuit Over Wrongful Account Termination–Buza v. Yahoo
By Eric Goldman Buza v. Yahoo, Inc., 2011 WL 5041174 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 24, 2011). The complaint. Buza claims Yahoo terminated two GeoCities accounts related to his advocacy efforts. Buza is proceeding pro se, which is typical for user lawsuits…
In Hannaford Data Breach Case, First Circuit Says Card Replacement and ID Theft Insurance are Reasonable Mitigation Damages and Compensable–Anderson v. Hannaford Bros.
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Anderson v. Hannaford Brothers Co., 10-2384; 2450 (1st Cir. Oct. 20, 2011) Background: Plaintiffs sued Hannaford based on a massive data breach in 2007. In this ruling, the First Circuit said that money spent by plaintiffs…
Ex-Employee Converted Social Media/Website Passwords by Keeping Them From Her Employer–Ardis Health v. Nankivell
[Post by Venkat, with comments from Eric] Ardis Health, LLC, Curb Your Cravings, LLC and USA Herbals, LLC v. Ashleigh Nankivell, 2011 WL 4965172 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 19, 2011) Nenkivell worked for CYC as a “video and social media producer.” Her…
Did California Unintentionally (?) Impose New Statutory Duties on Every Blogger? A Post on the Newly Enacted California Reader Privacy Act
By Eric Goldman California recently enacted the Reader Privacy Act, SB 602. See the EFF announcement. This new California law seeks to protect online book reader privacy to the same extent reader privacy is protected by libraries, by requiring heightened…
Comments on Doe v. IMDB Privacy Lawsuit
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Doe v. Amazon.com, Inc. and IMDB.com, Inc., 11-cv-1709 (W.D. Wash.; Oct. 13, 2011) An actress who goes by a stage name sued IMDB and Amazon for disclosing her birthdate, which IMDB allegedly obtained through the payment…
Court Disregards Check-the-Box Agreement and Doesn’t Enforce Venue Clause — Dunstan v. comScore
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with additional comments from Eric] Dunstan v. comScore, Inc., 11-cv-05807 (N.D. Ill. Oct. 7, 2011) Plaintiffs sued comScore, alleging that comScore improperly obtained and misused plaintiff’s personal information, after plaintiffs downloaded and used comScore’s software. comScore…
Q3 2011 Quick Links, Part 4
By Eric Goldman Content Regulation * Lawmakers are putting the squeeze on advertisers to be content police. Meanwhile, VeriSign begged for the right to act as content police before changing its mind. * Kowalski v. Koster, 2011 WL 4349365 (W.D….
Q3 2011 Quick Links, Part 3
By Eric Goldman Advertising Search Marketing * Search Engine Land: “In many cases, it is worth buying keywords even if you rank organically for them.” Similarly, a Google study indicates that PPC advertising lifts clicks on organic results. Prior blog…
Massachusetts Court Dismisses Lawsuit Alleging Failure to Adequately Safeguard Personal Information — Katz v. Pershing
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Katz v. Pershing, LLC, 10-12227-RGS (D. Mass. Aug 23, 2011) Background: Katz maintained an account at National Planning Corporation, an “introducing firm” for which Pershing provides brokerage clearing services. Pershing’s services are provided on a proprietary…
Court Nukes Another Mass Defendant File-Sharing Lawsuit — Digiprotect v. Does
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] DigiProtect USA v. Does, 10 Civ. 8760 (S.D.N.Y.; Sept. 26, 2011) Plenty of bad news for copyright plaintiffs lately. Righthaven is getting hammered left and right and is struggling (to say the least) to keep any…