Congress Probably Will Ruin Section 230 This Week (SESTA/FOSTA Updates)

For the past year, I’ve been covering Congress’ efforts to create a sex trafficking exception to Section 230’s immunity. From the beginning, it was clear that the proponents did not understand Section 230’s powerful but counter-intuitive doctrinal mechanisms, yet their initiative…

Google Gets Easy Section 230 Win in DC Circuit–Bennett v. Google

[It’s impossible to blog about Section 230 without reminding you that it remains highly imperiled. Also, I have several other Section 230 rulings to blog that I’ll get to eventually.] I previously described the facts of this case: Dawn J. Bennett was…

Roundup of Materials from HTLI’s Content Moderation & Removal Conference

On February 2, 2018, the High Tech Law Institute held a groundbreaking conference, “Content Moderation and Removal at Scale.” The conference explored how Internet companies operationalize their content moderation and removal processes. Over 200 people attended the conference in person, and hundreds more watched…

Twitter Defamation Claim Defeated by a Question Mark–Boulger v. Woods

This is a defamation lawsuit brought against James Woods by a woman (Portia Boulger) who was wrongly identified as a Nazi supporter online. In March, candidate Trump had a rally in Chicago. The Tribune posted a photo of a woman…

Twitter Didn’t Cause ISIS-Inspired Terrorism–Fields v. Twitter

[It’s impossible to blog about Section 230 without reminding you that it remains highly imperiled.] The Ninth Circuit issued its ruling in Fields v. Twitter, the first appellate ruling to address if and when social media services like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube can be…

Section 230 Again Preempts Suit Against Facebook for Supporting Terrorists–Force v. Facebook

[It’s impossible to blog about Section 230 without reminding you that it remains highly imperiled.] This is one of the many cases against social media sites for allegedly providing material support to terrorists. In May 2017, the court dismissed this case…

What’s New With SESTA/FOSTA (January 17, 2018 edition)

It’s been over a month since I last blogged about SESTA, FOSTA, and Congress’ efforts to address Section 230 and sex trafficking. So it seems like a good time to do an update on recent developments. The holidays were quiet,…

Search Engines Aren’t Liable for Indexing ‘Scam’ Locksmith Listings–Baldino’s Lock v. Google

[It’s impossible to blog about Section 230 without reminding you that it remains highly imperiled.] The plaintiff in this case, Baldino’s Lock & Key, brought a very similar lawsuit in 2014. It alleged that Google indexed scam locksmiths and allowed them…

A Patent For Geotagging IP Packets Raises Important Internet Law Questions (Guest Blog Post)

by guest blogger Marketa Trimble On September 12, 2017, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a patent on a technology that could significantly affect the functioning of the internet and the course of internet-related law and policy, and achieve an…

New House Bill (Substitute FOSTA) Has More Promising Approach to Regulating Online Sex Trafficking

Tomorrow, the House Judiciary Committee will markup the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017 (abbreviated to “FOSTA”). It appears a new substitute version of FOSTA will be marked up, not the bill as introduced. This makes a total of…

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