Narrow Definition of “Personally Identifiable Information” Kills VPPA Case–Eichenberger v. ESPN
This is a Video Privacy Protection Act case. Plaintiff downloaded the WatchESPN channel on his Roku device and used it to watch videos. When he watched a video, ESPN disclosed the plaintiff’s device serial number and video title to Adobe Analytics….
Facebook Defeats Lawsuit Over Tracking Logged-Out Users–In re Facebook Internet Tracking
Facebook allegedly improperly tracked the activity of logged-out Facebook users on third party websites. Plaintiffs asserted claims based on common law rights and based on federal and state statutes, but the court previously rejected those. In the latest ruling, the court…
New House Bill (Substitute FOSTA) Has More Promising Approach to Regulating Online Sex Trafficking
Tomorrow, the House Judiciary Committee will markup the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017 (abbreviated to “FOSTA”). It appears a new substitute version of FOSTA will be marked up, not the bill as introduced. This makes a total of…
Fourth Judge Says Social Media Sites Aren’t Liable for Supporting Terrorists–Pennie v. Twitter
[It’s impossible to blog about Section 230 without reminding you that it remains highly imperiled.] This is one of the multitudinous 1-800-LAW-FIRM lawsuits against social media services for allegedly providing material support to terrorists. It has filed at least two new cases…
Social Networking Site Isn’t Liable for User’s Overdose of Drugs He Bought Via the Site–Dyroff v. Ultimate Software
[It’s impossible to blog about Section 230 without reminding you that it remains highly imperiled.] This opinion is a contender for the most interesting Section 230 ruling of 2017. It deals with the troubling situation of user-to-user online drug sales; it…
Interesting Tidbits From FTC’s Antitrust Win Against 1-800 Contacts’ Keyword Ad Restrictions
Over the course of about a decade starting in 2004, 1-800 Contacts entered into over a dozen settlement agreements with competitors, most of which mutually restricted both parties from buying keyword ads triggered to their competitor’s trademarks and sometimes requiring…
Zazzle Loses Copyright Jury Verdict, and That’s Bad News for Print-on-Demand Publishers–Greg Young Publishing v. Zazzle
Greg Young Publishing licenses images for posters, many of which are beach- or surfing-themed. Zazzle users posted item listings that included the copyrighted images. Greg Young Publishing sued Zazzle. In a prior ruling, the court held that Section 512(c) applied to…
‘Blacklist’ of ModelMayhem Members Defeats Legal Liability–Brenner v. Hill
ModelMayhem facilitates matches between models and employers, such as photographers. We’ve blogged before about the risk that putative ModelMayhem employers are sexual predators, which led to a key 9th Circuit ruling that Section 230 doesn’t immunize “failure to warn” claims. I’m amazed ModelMayhem has survived despite…
Privacy Plaintiffs Lack Standing Against NBA 2K15’s Face-Scanning Technology
This is a putative class action lawsuit against Take-Two, the video game publisher. Plaintiffs allege that the “MyPlayer” feature on NBA 2K15 violated Illinois’ biometric information privacy statute. The feature allowed players to upload a face-scan and then use a…
Woman Fired For Pro-Trump Tweet Gets Unemployment Benefits–Waverly Heights v. Jungclaus
I just blogged on a case involving Facebook’s suspension of a Bowling Green Massacre gaslighter. Today, I’m blogging about a woman fired for a pro-Trump tweet. It’s pretty clear my blogging queue will be overflowing with Trump-related litigation for years to come. #MALGA…