Are Facebook Photos More Discoverable In Litigation Than Other Social Media Content? (Forbes Cross-Post)
Social media posts often play an important part in litigation. Posts can provide more insight into the truth than a litigant’s “official” story in court. A 2009 case stands out: a woman was accused of illegally racing on a freeway…
Top 10 Internet Law Developments of 2014 (Forbes Cross-Post)
It’s time for my annual recap of the top Internet Law developments of the year. #10: Copyright Fair Use Tilts To Defense. Larry Lessig has famously said that “fair use in America simply means the right to hire a lawyer…
Lawsuit Fails Over Ridesharing Service’s Disclosures To Its Analytics Service–Garcia v. Zimride
Plaintiff sued Lyft (and others) over privacy violations based on the allegedly improper disclosure of user information by the Zimride service. He alleged that he used the Zimride service, once owned by Lyft and now owned by Enterprise Holdings, and his…
Court Rejects VPPA Claim Against Viacom and Google Based on Failure to Disclose Identity
I blogged before about the privacy lawsuit against Viacom and Google over the disclosure of the viewing habits of minors. The court previously rejected the claims on the basis that the disclosure of user attributes (such as demographic information, unique…
Vonage Isn’t Liable For Disclosing ‘Unlisted’ Phone Number
Miller is a psychologist who undertakes efforts to keep his phone number unlisted. As part of his work, he evaluated the mental health of criminal defendants. (For various reasons, his family wished to keep the number unlisted as well). He…
Facebook May be On the Hook for Scanning Private Messages for Links
This is a privacy lawsuit against Facebook: Plaintiffs allege that Facebook scans the content of their private messages, and if there is a link to a web page contained in that message, Facebook treats it as a “like” of the…
Fair Use Protects Sending Expert Witness’ Resume to Opposing Counsel–Devil’s Advocate v. Zurich Insurance
Most of us probably have never thought about the coprightability of our resumes or curriculum vitae. Most resumes are highly functional documents, i.e., we don’t write them for fun; and they are just an input into a more important output…
Will A ‘Cast Of Thousands’ Become A ‘Cast Of Thousands…Of Plaintiffs’? A Preview of Garcia v. Google (Forbes Cross-Post)
[Note: I wrote the following post on Monday before the oral arguments. I haven’t had a chance to view Monday’s oral arguments, but from the news reports and Twitter feeds, it sounds like Kozinski and McKeown will be squaring off….
First Amendment Bars School Discipline For Student’s Rap Video About School Coaches
Bell was a student at Itawamba Agricultural High School in Fulton, Mississippi. A few female students told Bell that two male athletic coaches had made inappropriate comments toward them. Bell, an aspiring rapper, made a video about the two coaches….
Appeals Court Affirms Harassment Order Based on Vague Testimony of Indirect Contacts
This is a civil harassment case. Kwan and Murcia both worked at CVS but at different stores (both as managers). Kwan filed a request for a harassment restraining order against Murcia, alleging that he was cyber harassing her and texted…