Should We Cheer The California Attorney General’s Revenge Porn Arrest–Or Find It Alarming? (Forbes Cross-Post)
…vague. The crime asserted here, Penal Code 530.5(a), has two elements. First, the defendant must willfully obtain personal identifying information. Second, the defendant must use that information for an unlawful…
It’s Illegal For Offline Retailers To Collect Email Addresses–Capp v. Nordstrom
Shutterstock / Olegdoroshin: hand holds the check from supermarket The California Supreme Court issued a decision a couple of years ago holding that a zip code is “personal identification information”…
Think Hoarding Passwords Keeps You Safe From Firing? Think Again (Forbes Cross-Post)
…Code Sec. 502(c)(5)), which criminalizes taking an action that “knowingly and without permission disrupts or causes the disruption of computer services or denies or causes the denial of computer services…
Lawsuit Over Google Hangouts Gutted–Be In v. Google
…Assuming there’s no significant similarity in the underlying code between Google’s and Be In’s software, Be In’s copyright claims will be a challenge. (See Eric’s post on EA v. Zynga.)…
Sexting a Minor Isn’t a Crime in Texas
…manner” with a minor with the intent to arouse. (Section 33.021(b) of the Texas Penal Code.) Both the trial court and the intermediate appeals court rejected challenges to this statute,…
Google Wins Cookie Privacy Lawsuit
…or loss. The court also says that (1) any unauthorized access was not “without permission” as this term is used under section 502, and (2) Google did not introduce a…
California’s New Law Shows It’s Not Easy To Regulate Revenge Porn (Forbes Cross-Post)
California enacted a new law against “revenge” porn, sometimes called “involuntary” porn. SB 255, codified as California Penal Code 647(j)(4). The law says it is “disorderly conduct” for a defendant…
Presentation About the Problems of Online Trespass to Chattels
…computer crime laws like California Penal Code Sec. 502. As I outline in that post, I don’t think nibbling around the edges with CFAA reform is very helpful. Instead, I…
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…
California’s New ‘Online Eraser’ Law Should Be Erased (Forbes Cross-Post)
…posts they made as youths. The California legislature thought it had a better solution for this problem and enacted a law, SB 568 (California Business & Professions Code Sec. 22581),…