Court Rejects Challenge to Indictment Over Facebook Threats — US v. Michael
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] US v. Michael, 2:12 cr 1 WTL CMM (S.D. Ind.; Oct. 9, 2012) Another case involving threats made via Facebook. Here the defendant was indicted for the following Facebook posts: These guys will get whats coming…
Sony Network Data Breach Class Action Suffers Setback — In re Sony Gaming Networks
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] In re Sony Gaming Networks and Customer Data Security Breach Litigation, 2012 WL 4849054 (S.D. Cal.; Oct. 11, 2012) This is a class action arising out of a hack of Sony’s online gaming network. The hacks…
Second Circuit Says Arbitration Clause in Terms Emailed After-the-Fact Not Enforceable – Schnabel v. Trilegiant
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with comments by Eric] Schnabel v. Trilegiant, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 18875 (2d Cir.; Sept. 7, 2012) Eric recently blogged at Forbes about a terms of service gaffe by Zappos that prevented Zappos from being able…
Wikipedia’s “Pay-for-Play” Scandal Highlights Wikipedia’s Vulnerabilities (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman Recently, two high-level Wikipedia UK insiders, Roger Bamkin and Maximillian Klein, were caught with apparent conflicts-of-interest. Bamkin, a Wikipedia UK trustee and “Wikipedian in Residence,” allegedly maintained a paid consultancy for the country of Gibraltar while editing and seeking additional exposure…
The Proposed “Cloud Computing Act of 2012,” and How Internet Regulation Can Go Awry (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman Sen. Amy Klobuchar has introduced a new bill, the “Cloud Computing Act of 2012” (S.3569), that purports to “improve the enforcement of criminal and civil law with respect to cloud computing.” Given its introduction so close to…
Texas Court of Appeals Rejects Privacy Claims Based on Facebook Firing – Roberts v. Careflite
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Roberts v. Careflite, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 8371 (Tex. Ct. App.; Oct. 4, 2012) This is a companion case to one Eric blogged about, Sumien v. Careflite. Both cases involve EMTs who were fired for making…
Call for Papers/Participation, 3rd Annual Internet Law Work-in-Progress Conference, SCU, March 16, 2013
By Eric Goldman We invite you to participate in the Third Annual Internet Law Work-in-Progress conference at Santa Clara University School of Law on March 16, 2013. The conference series is co-sponsored by the High Tech Law Institute at Santa…
Q3 2012 Quick Links, Part 1 (Trademarks/Domain Names, Patents, Trade Secrets)
By Eric Goldman and Jake McGowan Trademarks/Domain Names * AdAge: “Consumers Don’t Really Know Who Sponsors the Olympics.” This reminds us that trying to protect against “sponsorship confusion” is futile. For example: 16% believed Google sponsors the Olympics; and of…
Ripoff Report and Topix Postings Protected by California’s Anti-SLAPP Law–Chaker v. Mateo
By Eric Goldman Chaker v. Mateo, 2012 WL 4711885 (Cal. App. Ct. Oct. 4, 2012) Chaker and Nicole Mateo had a baby together. After the messy breakup, Nicole and Nicole’s mom Wendy allegedly posted derogatory statements about Chaker and his…
Battle Over LinkedIn Account Between Employer and Employee Largely Gutted–Eagle v. Morgan
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani, with comments from Eric] Eagle v. Morgan, 2012 WL 4739436 (E.D. Pa.; Oct. 4, 2012) We’ve repeatedly posted about employer-employee (or ex-employee) disputes involving social media accounts (PhoneDog; Maremont; Kremer; Insynq). Eagle v. Morgan is in…