Lawsuit Against Ripoff Report Dropped After Discovery–Vision Security v. Xcentric (Guest Blog Post)
By guest bloggers Jeffrey J. Hunt and Rachel Lassig Wertheimer [Eric’s introduction: this post is written by lawyers who represented Ripoff Report in one of their multitudinous lawsuits. Because the authors were also advocates in this case, you might assume this…
How Is Texting a Dick Pic Like Masturbating in a Person’s Presence?–State v. Decker
My apologies for the indelicate headline. If you’re reading this because you’re hoping for some salacious insights regarding sexting, dick pics or masturbation, this post will disappoint you. An obvious protip: taking advice from a law professor on such topics…
To Geoblock, or Not To Geoblock – Is That Still a Question? (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Marketa Trimble Should your client – an internet content provider or service provider – geoblock? Your client might geolocate – that is, it might determine an internet user’s physical location and then localize content to adjust the…
New Draft Paper on Emojis and the Law
I have posted a draft article, entitled Surveying the Law of Emojis, to SSRN. I will be posting excerpts from the article here over the next few weeks. I would gratefully appreciate your comments on the draft. I am also…
Will Technology Destroy Our Democracy–or Save It? A Series of Papers at The Atlantic
The decade-old book The Victorian Internet recaps the rise and fall of the telegraph. The telegraph was supposed to connect people together, but instead it played a crucial role facilitating ever-more-destructive wars. The author wrote: “That the telegraph was so…
You Can’t Be Fired For a Facebook Post Calling Your Boss a “LOSER”–NLRB v. Pier Sixty
This is a Facebook firing case. The employee worked at Pier Sixty, which operated a catering company in New York. In early 2011, its employees became involved in a union organizing campaign, ultimately voting to unionize. Hernan Perez worked as…
New Draft Article: “Judicial Resolution of Nonconsensual Pornography Dissemination Cases”
I’ve posted to SSRN a new article titled Judicial Resolution of Nonconsensual Pornography Dissemination Cases. I co-authored it with Angie Jin, a recent Cornell Law alum. The paper is in draft form, and we would gratefully welcome your comments. The…
How Should a Lawyer Respond to a Yelp Review Calling Him “Worst. Ever.”?–Spencer v. Glover
(Spoiler alert: suing the client is not the correct answer). The Opinion Glover hired and then fired Spencer as his divorce lawyer. Glover then posted this Yelp review: Worst ever. Had to fire him after I gave him a chance…
Can Your Employer Fire You For Posting Vacation Photos to Facebook?–Jones v. Accentia
I posted about this case a year ago at Forbes, and it remains one of my most-read blog posts of all time. The legal question is simple: can an employer fire an employee because of the employee’s vacation photos posted…
Dozen Amicus Briefs Oppose the Worst Section 230 Ruling of 2016 (and One Supports It)–Hassell v. Bird
You surely recall the Hassell v. Bird ruling from last year. A lawyer was unhappy with a Yelp review about her. The lawyer sued the putative author (with dubious service of process), got a default ruling that the review was…