Police Officer’s Facebook Venting Isn’t Protected By The First Amendment–Gresham v. Atlanta
Gresham v. City of Atlanta, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 20961 (11th Cir. Oct. 17, 2013). [Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Gresham was a law enforcement officer. She complained on Facebook about the alleged unethical interference by a department investigator in an…
California’s New Law Shows It’s Not Easy To Regulate Revenge Porn (Forbes Cross-Post)
California enacted a new law against “revenge” porn, sometimes called “involuntary” porn. SB 255, codified as California Penal Code 647(j)(4). The law says it is “disorderly conduct” for a defendant to take intimate and confidential recordings, such as photos or…
Social Media Rant Against Airline Employee Wasn’t Defamatory But May Be False Light–Patterson v. Grant-Herms
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with comments from Eric] Patterson v. Grant-Herms, 2013 Tenn. App. 675 (Tenn. Ct. App. Oct. 8, 2013) Defendant Natalie Grant-Herms wasn’t allowed to board a flight at the same time as her four year old daughter,…
California’s Latest Effort To Keep Some Ads From Reaching Kids Is Misguided And Unconstitutional (Forbes Cross-Post)
California recently enacted SB 568 (Business & Professions Code 22580) to prevent certain types of online advertising from being shown to kids. Like so many other state efforts to regulate the Internet, the new law takes an understandable regulatory objective…
Calling Out Scraper for “Stealing” Data Is Not Defamatory – Tamburo v. Dworkin
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Tamburo v. Dworkin, 04 C 3317 (N.D. Ill. Sept. 26, 2013) This is an interesting dispute that brings together several legal doctrines we love to cover here. It’s the type of fact pattern a law school…
California’s New ‘Online Eraser’ Law Should Be Erased (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman People mocked Google CEO Eric Schmidt for his 2010 suggestion that teenagers should change their names when they turn 18 to avoid the indiscreet and ill-advised Internet posts they made as youths. The California legislature thought it…
Creating Parody Social Media Accounts Doesn’t Violate Computer Fraud & Abuse Act – Matot v. CH
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Matot v. CH, et al, 13-cv-153-TC (D.Or.) (Report and Recommendation, Aug. 19, 2013) (Order Dismissing Lawsuit, Sept. 26, 2013) This is a strange lawsuit brought by an assistant middle high school principal who alleged that defendants…
Court Upholds Doocing For Snarky Facebook Post — Rodriquez v. Wal-Mart
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Rodriquez v. Wal-Mart, 2013 U.S. App. 19345 (5th Cir. Sept. 19, 2013) [
Is There Any Way to Cure An “Accidental” Download of Child Pornography?
Crabtree v. Commonwealth of Kentucky, No. 2011-CA-000452-MR (Ky. Ct. App. Aug. 17, 2012) By Eric Goldman [Introductory note: this post has been percolating for quite some time, in part because of its troubling implications. The only definitive lesson–never EVER download…
The First Amendment Protects Facebook “Likes” – Bland v. Roberts
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani, with comments by Eric] Bland v. Roberts, No. 12-1671 (4th Cir. Sept. 18, 2013). Plaintiffs were a group of employees of the Sheriff’s department, who brought First Amendment claims against the Sheriff. They alleged they were…