More Data on Online Age Authentication Balk Rates
In a prior post, I surveyed the rates at which consumers do not complete online age authentication processes, what I call the “balk” rate. There is no single canonical balk rate. It varies by destination behind the authentication wall, the…
Court Greenlights Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Unmasking of Online Critic–In re DMCA Subpoena to Cloudflare
The Jehovah’s Witnesses (the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania) sought to unmask a Doe who uploaded an archive of religious texts, along with some associated linguistic parsing tools, to a website (https://jws-library.one). [That URL now says: “This…
Apple Defeats Liability for Not Scanning iCloud Items for CSAM, But the Judge Was Not Pleased–Amy v. Apple
This case involves Apple’s handling of user-uploaded files hosted in private iCloud storage. Instead of adopting PhotoDNA to scan hosted files for CSAM, Apple created its own proprietary alternative, NeuralHash, which apparently wasn’t as good. So Apple U-turned on its…
How Often Do Consumers Balk at Doing Online Age Authentication?
In search engine parlance, the “bounce” rate is the percent of searchers who click on a search results link and then immediately hit the back button. High bounce rates usually signal that something has gone wrong. Either the destination website…
Court Rejects Lawsuit Over Online Criticisms of a Dater–D’Ambrosio v. Meta
Abbigail Rajala posted a critical review of her dating experience with Nikko D’Ambrosio on the Chicago subboard of Facebook’s Spill the Tea group. According to the district court, D’Ambrosio “sued anyone remotely associated with those posts for all possible, imaginable claims,…
Section 230’s Application to Account Terminations, CSAM, and More
The Section 230 cases keep coming faster than I can blog them (the first 3 hit my alerts in a single day). Weiss v. Google LLC, 2026 WL 733788 (Cal. App. Ct. March 16, 2026) Weiss’ business started running financial…
Photobucket’s Attempted TOS Amendment Mostly Fails–Pierce v. Photobucket
Photobucket is a venerable photo hosting service whose best days are far behind it. In 2017, its management imploded the service by imposing above-market hosting fees. Most users stopped using Photobucket, but Photobucket kept their photos. In 2024, Photobucket emailed…
Fair Use Blocks Privacy-Motivated Copyright Lawsuit–MCM v. Perry
The case involves a Twitter user, Perry (a/k/a “I, Hypocrite”), who tweet-critiqued a crypto company Celsius Networks. The first tweet in the sequence referenced a business setback for Celsius. The second tweet in the sequence contained a collage of two…
California’s Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) Assists a Private Right of Action–Shah v. MyFitnessPal
It’s been years since I blogged about the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Have you missed the dumpster fire meme? * * * This is one of an ever-growing number of cases alleging that a website purported to let users…
The Sixth Circuit Wades Into Online TOS Formation (and Leaves Me More Confused Than Ever)–Dahdah v. LowerMyBills
TL;DR: The court provides this overview: LowerMyBills.com refers internet users who are interested in refinancing their home mortgages to affiliated lending partners, including Rocket Mortgage. The website tells users that they will agree to its hyperlinked “Terms of Use”—including a…