Amazon Might Be Liable for Defective Marketplace Items (But Only When It Tries to Warn Consumers)–Fox v. Amazon
This is one of many lawsuits over defective hoverboards sold by vendors in Amazon’s marketplace. Starting in November 2015, Amazon conducted an investigation into the dangers of hoverboards. On December 11, 2015, Amazon decided the entire category of hoverboards was…
Section 230 Protects Snapchat from Liability for Cyberbullying–Grossman v. Rockaway Township
This case involves the heartbreaking suicide of 12 year old Mallory Grossman, driven by offline and online peer bullying that included mean Snapchat messages. (Note: the opinion refers to Mallory as “MG,” but poor redactions reveal her name in the…
Latest Linkwrap on FOSTA’s Aftermath
Some FOSTA-related links that have accumulated over the past few months: Lucy Kahn, “Against FOSTA/SESTA: One Canary’s Cry From Inside the Coal Mine“ Now that FOSTA/SESTA has been voted into law, I’ve literally seen my advertising platforms disappear before my…
Facebook Defeats Alabama Injunction for Lack of Jurisdiction–Facebook v. KGS
This case involves an allegedly “predatory” adoption. As usual with custody disputes, the facts are heartbreaking. The birth mom agreed to place her unborn baby into adoption, but then changed her mind. The adoption court eventually awarded custody to the…
Private Publishers Aren’t State Actors–Manhattan Community Access v. Halleck
[Eric’s note: this post has two parts. First, I recap the opinion and its implications. Then, Heather Whitney revisits as a guest blogger with a different perspective.] Part 1: Eric’s Comments This case involves local cable access, but it has…
Court Declines to Dismiss Data Breach Claims Against Facebook Based on Access Token Incident–Bass v. Facebook
This is a data breach lawsuit against Facebook. Judge Alsup denies Facebook’s motion to dismiss, although he does find that Facebook’s contract disclaimer (likely) neutralizes numerous contract-based claims. Background: Facebook announced a vulnerability that allowed third parties to obtain “access…
Want Companies to Comply with the CCPA? Delay Its Effective Date (Guest Blog Post)
By guest blogger Jeff Kosseff [Jeff Kosseff is an assistant professor in the United States Naval Academy’s Cyber Science Department. The views expressed are only his and do not represent the Naval Academy, Department of Navy, or Department of Defense. …
Your Periodic Reminder That Facebook Isn’t a State Actor–Williby v. Zuckerberg
This is my fourth blog post on a social media “censorship”/deplatforming ruling in 11 days (see also Fyk v. Facebook, Murphy v. Twitter and Brittain v. Twitter). This litigation tsunami is taking place even though these cases have absolutely no legal merit….
The Plaintiff Is Probably Pissed About Section 230–Fyk v. Facebook
[I’ll blog an analysis of Sen. Hawley’s bill attacking Section 230 soon.] Jason Fyk created Facebook pages “dedicated to videos and pictures of people urinating….Plaintiff alleges that Facebook blocked content posted by Plaintiff and removed content in order to make…
Linkwrap on Sen. Hawley’s Bill Attacking Section 230
As you probably saw, Sen. Josh Hawley introduced a new bill, “Ending Support for Internet Censorship Act,” targeting Section 230. The associated press release. Like most Congressional bill names, the title is a complete misdirection. Of course private entities aren’t…