Trump’s “Preventing Online Censorship” Executive Order Is Pro-Censorship Political Theater
Introduction We all knew the day would come when the Trump Administration would try to censor the Internet. This was inevitable because of Trump’s dictatorial lust, his antipathy towards independent media sources that can hold him accountable for his actions,…
Court Sends Google Assistant Privacy Lawsuit Back for a Redo
This is a putative class action against Google alleging that Google Assistant actively listened (mistakenly) based on a misperceived voice command. The lawsuit complains about the fact that Google used the recordings from these “false accepts”. The court grants Google’s…
High School Can’t Expel Student for Sharing Memes in Private Snapchat Conversation–JS v. Manheim Township School District
During downtime at home, high schoolers JS and “Student 1” gossiped about their peer “Student 2” via private Snapchat. JS thought Student 2 looked like a school shooter based on his hair and his wearing a “Cannibal Corpse” t-shirt. (TIL:…
Fair Use Protects a Highly Cropped Photo–Harbus v. Manhattan Institute
Harbus is a photographer. He owns the copyright to a photo of Gov. Cuomo. The Manhattan Institute is a conservative think tank. One of their fellows published an article in the New York Post (you can see the full photo…
Armslist Wins Another Section 230 Ruling–Stokinger v. Armslist
This case involves the tragic shooting of a police officer. The shooter acquired the gun illegally from a seller who had acquired the gun via Armslist. Among other defendants, the victim sued Armslist for a variety of claims, including negligence….
A Sure Way to Ruin My Day: The Phrase “Enforceable Browsewrap”–HealthplanCRM v. Avmed
Cavulus is a software licensor. Avmed is the customer/licensee. Avmed decided to migrate from Cavulus to Salesforce, and it asked vendor NTT to help with the data migration. Avmed purportedly sublicensed software access to NTT (as the license allegedly permitted),…
Another Suspended Twitter User Loses in Court–Wilson v. Twitter
Wilson says he used his Twitter account to express his heterosexuality and Christianity. Twitter suspended the account, allegedly for hateful conduct. Wilson tried creating new accounts but was blocked. Wilson sued Twitter pro se for hundreds of millions of dollars….
2H 2019 and Q1 2020 Quick Links, Part 7 (Content Moderation, Censorship, Defamation, & More)
Content Moderation * The Verge: The Terror Queue: These moderators help keep Google and YouTube free of violent extremism — and now some of them have PTSD * The Intercept: Trauma Counselors Were Pressured to Divulge Confidential Information About Facebook…
Another 512(f) Claim Fails–Ningbo Mizhihe v Doe
The plaintiff is a Chinese vendor that claims copyright in unicorn images (see depictions on the right). The defendants are also vendors using unicorn images. The plaintiff accuses the defendants of infringing the plaintiff’s copyrights. In support of that, the…
2H 2019 and Q1 2020 Quick Links, Part 6 (Pornography/CSAM)
* People v. Austin, 2019 IL 123910 (Ill. Sup. Ct. Oct. 18, 2019). Illinois Supreme Court upholds a sui generis anti-NCP law as constitutional: “the sharing of a private sexual image in a personal and direct communication with an intended…