Should TheDirty Website Be Liable For Encouraging Users To Gossip? (Forbes Cross-Post)
A major Internet Law battle is brewing in the Sixth Circuit federal appellate court in Kentucky. Potentially at stake is the future of the Web 2.0 ecosystem and user-generated content–which is why many of the Internet’s biggest and high-profile companies…
California Assembly Hearing, “Balancing Privacy and Opportunity in the Internet Age,” SCU, Dec. 12
Santa Clara University is hosting a joint hearing of the California State Assembly’s Judiciary Committee, Business, Professions And Consumer Protection Committee, and Select Committee On Privacy on December 12, 2013, 9 am to 1 pm. The hearing is entitled “Balancing…
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…
2013 Internet Law Syllabus and Casebook Now Online
By Eric Goldman I have posted my 2013 Internet Law syllabus and updated and expanded casebook ($8 DRM-free PDF download). It’s hard to believe this is my 19th year teaching the course! (For more background on the course, see this…
Why You’ll Soon Be Paying Sales Taxes on All of Your Internet Purchases–Amazon v. NY Taxation Department (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman In the 1992 case Quill v. North Dakota, the U.S. Supreme Court said an out-of-state retailer can’t be obligated to collect sales taxes from buyers in states where the retailer lacks a physical presence. In those situations,…
Designing Optimal Immunities and Safe Harbors (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman [Note: this is one of those posts that languished in the queue for a few years. Depending on your response, I may decide to turn it into a lengthier academic paper. Please send me your thoughts!] You…
“Regulation of Social Media and Mobile Media” Talk Slides
By Eric Goldman Last month, I spoke at the ABA Antitrust Section’s always-well-done Consumer Protection Conference. This time I was recruited as the provocateur to discuss the challenges of regulating social media and mobile media. Regular readers know where I…
Resetting One of the Longest Running Cyberbullying Cases–DC v. RR (Guest Blog Post)
By Guest Blogger Sruli Yellin [Eric’s introduction: In the course of blogging over the past 8+ years, I’ve read hundreds or even thousands of cases. This case ranks in my top 1% of most interesting and memorable cases. Today, we’d…
Before Graduated Response, There Was BSA’s “Define the Line” Program. What Happened to It? (Guest Blog Post)
By Guest Blogger Sruli Yellin [Eric’s introduction: with the imminent launch of the six strikes/graduated response program from the deceptively named Center for Copyright Information, I thought it might be worthwhile revisiting a prior effort by rightsowners to coopt Internet…
With Its Australian Court Victory, Google Moves Closer to Legitimizing Keyword Advertising Globally (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman Google’s ($GOOG) keyword advertising program, AdWords, has been subject to constant legal challenges for the past decade. After an initial period of legal uncertainty, AdWords’ legal fortunes recently have brightened in the United States and Europe. Earlier this…