A Reward Offer Still An Offer, Even if It’s Made on YouTube – Augstein v. Ryan Leslie
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani, with comments from Eric] Augstein v. Leslie, 2012 WL 4928914 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 17, 2012). As the post’s title implies, this case is about a reward offer that the plaintiff is trying to enforce. Ryan Leslie, a…
A Dark Side of Data Portability: Litigators Love It (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman In re White Tail Oilfield Services, L.L.C., 2012 WL 4857777 (E.D. La. Oct. 11, 2012) Cloud services are great, but they pose a number of challenges for users. For example, users may legitimately fear that vendors will…
$1 Billion Pro Se Privacy Lawsuit Against Google Fails–Shah v. MyLife
By Eric Goldman Shah v. MyLife.Com, Inc., 2012 WL 4863696 (D. Or. September 21, 2012) (magistrate’s report and recommendations). On October 11, 2012, the judge approved the magistrate’s report only on subject matter and personal jurisdiction grounds. The initial complaint….
Court Rejects Challenge to Indictment Over Facebook Threats — US v. Michael
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] US v. Michael, 2:12 cr 1 WTL CMM (S.D. Ind.; Oct. 9, 2012) Another case involving threats made via Facebook. Here the defendant was indicted for the following Facebook posts: These guys will get whats coming…
Sony Network Data Breach Class Action Suffers Setback — In re Sony Gaming Networks
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] In re Sony Gaming Networks and Customer Data Security Breach Litigation, 2012 WL 4849054 (S.D. Cal.; Oct. 11, 2012) This is a class action arising out of a hack of Sony’s online gaming network. The hacks…
Second Circuit Says Arbitration Clause in Terms Emailed After-the-Fact Not Enforceable – Schnabel v. Trilegiant
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with comments by Eric] Schnabel v. Trilegiant, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 18875 (2d Cir.; Sept. 7, 2012) Eric recently blogged at Forbes about a terms of service gaffe by Zappos that prevented Zappos from being able…
Wikipedia’s “Pay-for-Play” Scandal Highlights Wikipedia’s Vulnerabilities (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman Recently, two high-level Wikipedia UK insiders, Roger Bamkin and Maximillian Klein, were caught with apparent conflicts-of-interest. Bamkin, a Wikipedia UK trustee and “Wikipedian in Residence,” allegedly maintained a paid consultancy for the country of Gibraltar while editing and seeking additional exposure…
The Proposed “Cloud Computing Act of 2012,” and How Internet Regulation Can Go Awry (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman Sen. Amy Klobuchar has introduced a new bill, the “Cloud Computing Act of 2012” (S.3569), that purports to “improve the enforcement of criminal and civil law with respect to cloud computing.” Given its introduction so close to…
Texas Court of Appeals Rejects Privacy Claims Based on Facebook Firing – Roberts v. Careflite
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Roberts v. Careflite, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 8371 (Tex. Ct. App.; Oct. 4, 2012) This is a companion case to one Eric blogged about, Sumien v. Careflite. Both cases involve EMTs who were fired for making…
Call for Papers/Participation, 3rd Annual Internet Law Work-in-Progress Conference, SCU, March 16, 2013
By Eric Goldman We invite you to participate in the Third Annual Internet Law Work-in-Progress conference at Santa Clara University School of Law on March 16, 2013. The conference series is co-sponsored by the High Tech Law Institute at Santa…