June 2009 Quick Links, Part 2
By Eric Goldman State Regulation of the Internet * iAWFUL, the Internet Advocates Watchlist for Ugly Laws * Texas HB 2003. Part of the anti-cyber-harassment mania. Very broad statute with lots of room for prosecutorial mischief. * BNA (BNA subscription…
May 2009 Quick Links Part 2
By Eric Goldman Blogs and Boards * WSJ: Bloggers, Beware: What You Write Can Get You Sued * j2 Global Communications v. Zilker Ventures, CV 08-07470 SJO (AJWx) (C.D. Cal. April 22, 2009). A consumer review website can putatively qualify…
April 2009 Quick Links
By Eric Goldman [Just a reminder that I am posting some “quick links” exclusively to my Twitter account, so if you want to keep up with everything, follow me at Twitter or subscribe to the RSS feed.] Marketing/Spam * Zango…
Robert Steinbuch Loses Another Round–Steinbuch v. Hachette
By Eric Goldman Steinbuch v. Hachette Book Group, 2009 WL 963588 (E.D. Ark. April 8, 2009). The Justia page. Law professor Robert Steinbuch, a male “protagonist” from the notorious and risque Washingtonienne blog by Jessica Cutler, suffered another courtroom loss….
Blogspot Sued for Dead Blogger’s Content–Davis v. Google
By Eric Goldman Davis v. Google, 09 CH 15753 (Cook County Ct. complaint filed April 9, 2009) Venkat sent a very interesting lawsuit this morning that raises some complex policy issues. The complaint alleges that Sean Healy created a blog…
Q1 2009 Quick Links, Part 3
By Eric Goldman Blogging and Social Networking Sites * A new version of the EFF Legal Guide to Blogging. While you’re there, consider joining EFF as a member. The EFF does first-rate work, and they can use all the support…
Republishing MySpace Post in Local Paper Might Be Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress–Moreno v. Hanford Sentinel
By Eric Goldman Moreno v. Hanford Sentinel, Inc., 2009 WL 866795 (Cal. App. Ct. April 2, 2009) This is one of the most interesting cases I’ve seen in a while. Moreno was a UC Berkeley undergraduate who grew up in…
Web Host Convicted of State Child Porn Crimes Despite 230–People v. Gourlay
By Eric Goldman People v. Gourlay, 2009 WL 529216 (Mich. App. Ct. March 3, 2009) Hot on the heels of the Cook County Sheriff’s publicity stunt filing against Craigslist, we get an interesting but complicated ruling exploring the application of…
Rip-off Report Lawsuit Updates: Certain Approval Programs and Ecommerce Innovations
By Eric Goldman Certain Approval Program v. Xcentric Certain Approval Programs, L.L.C. v. XCentric Ventures L.L.C., 2009 WL 596582 (D. Ariz. March 9, 2009). I previously blogged about this case in November. This ruling is in response to the plaintiff’s…
The Third Wave of Internet Exceptionalism
By Eric Goldman [I initially wrote this as an editorial for our University magazine and republished that version through InformIT as well. Here’s the original unedited version I submitted.] From the beginning, the Internet has been viewed as something special…