The Ninth Circuit’s FOSTA Jurisprudence Is Getting Clearer (and More Defense-Favorable)
As you know, FOSTA was a poorly drafted statute with terrible policy outcomes. We’re still working through the first wave of litigation testing Congress’ poor handiwork. Last October, in Doe v. Reddit, the Ninth Circuit issued an important ruling interpreting…
Minnesota’s Attempt to Copy California’s Constitutionally Defective Age Appropriate Design Code is an Utter Fail (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Jess Miers, Legal Advocacy Counsel at Chamber of Progress [Eric’s intro: last year I blogged about Minnesota’s flirtation with mandatory age verification. That proposal died, but it’s a new year and legislatures around the country are back…
Microsoft Can Terminate User Account for Allegedly Possessing CSAM. But What If It Made a Mistake?–Deutsch v. Microsoft
The plaintiff (a NY lawyer/financial executive?) allegedly uploaded CSAM to his Microsoft OneDrive folder in violation of Microsoft’s “Code of Conduct.” [Nomenclature note: CSAM is what used to be called child porn; the case calls it CSEAI]. Allegedly, PhotoDNA detected…
Twitter Defeats Account Suspension Case–Craft v. Musk
The opinion summarizes the allegations: Defendants Twitter, Inc. and its CEO, Elon Musk, violated his First Amendment rights by blocking his Twitter account twice, for a period of seven days each, in February and March 2023. According to Plaintiff, he…
Prison Warden Says: ‘Lock The Emojis Up.’ Court Replies: ‘Free the Emojis’–Taliani v. Dortch
Prisoners have limited free speech rights. Among other things, their outgoing written communications are typically reviewed before sending. The Hill Correctional Center in Illinois bans prisoners from sending “coded” messages that the reviewers can’t understand. (I imagine other prisons have…
New Article: “The United States’ Approach to ‘Platform’ Regulation”
I’ve posted a new 5,000 word article, The United States’ Approach to “Platform” Regulation. The abstract: This paper summarizes the United States’ legal framework governing Internet “platforms” that publish third-party content. It highlights three key features of U.S. law: the…
Do Mandatory Age Verification Laws Conflict with Biometric Privacy Laws?–Kuklinski v. Binance
California passed the California Age-Appropriate Design Code (AADC) nominally to protect children’s privacy, but at the same time, the AADC requires businesses to do an age “assurance” of all their users, children and adults alike. (Age “assurance” requires the business…
Service Provider to a Ponzi Scheme Operation Qualifies for Section 230–Wiand v. ATC Brokers
[This opinion was issued 6 months ago, but it just showed up in my alerts.] This case involves an alleged Ponzi scheme involving foreign currency exchanges (“forex”). In addition to the direct participants in the scheme, the CFTC pursued Spotex,…
Services Aren’t Liable for Ignoring the DMCA’s 512(g) Counternotification Procedures–Hopson v. Google
This case involves a UGC anime site called Gelbooru, run by Hopson. Rightsowners sent DMCA takedown notices targeting the site to Google. (Lumen has many takedown notices containing the word “Gelbooru”). Google stripped out the notices’ identifying information and forwarded…
The First Amendment Limits Trademark Rights, But How?–Jack Daniel’s v. Bad Spaniels (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Lisa P. Ramsey [Lisa P. Ramsey is a Professor of Law at the University of San Diego School of Law. She writes and teaches in the trademark law area, and was one of the signatories of the…