FOSTA’s Political Curse
As you know, FOSTA was terrible policy. Since its passage, the law has been devastating to the communities of both sex trafficking victims and commercial sex workers. Law enforcement officers have stopped invested as much energy into sex trafficking operations…
Reminder: Cutting-and-Pasting Photos from the Internet Is Hazardous to Your Legal Health–Grecco v. Valuewalk
This is a mostly straightforward case of cutting-and-pasting a photo from the Internet. These cases don’t normally produce detailed federal court rulings because the defendant usually doesn’t have great defenses and prefers to settle early. This defendant decided to fight…
Is the DTSA Ex Parte Seizure Provision Constitutional?
The Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) has been law for 2 1/2 years. At this point, it’s pretty clear the DTSA ex parte seizure provision never belonged in the statute. Courts have ordered only a few ex parte seizures, and…
Section 230 Doesn’t Support Habeus Petition by ‘Revenge’ Pornographer–Bollaert v. Gore
As you may recall, Kevin Bollaert ran UGotPosted, which published third-party submitted nonconsensual pornography, and ChangeMyReputation.com, which offered depicted individuals a “pay-to-remove” option. Bollaert appeared multiple times in my inventory of nonconsensual pornography enforcement actions. Bollaert’s conduct was disgusting, and…
Angie’s List Defeats Lawsuit Over Alleged “Pay-to-Play” Rankings–Strauss v. Angie’s List
Strauss spent over $200,000 on Angie’s List advertising over about a decade. After he stopped advertising, he claimed Angie’s List treated him poorly, including deindexing him from its search, then degrading his positioning in search results, and other malfeasance. All…
Defendant Can’t Send Virtual Gambling Claims to Arbitration
Churchill Downs’ Big Fish Casino is accused of violating Washington’s gambling statute. It moved to dismiss and was successful in district court. On appeal, the Ninth Circuit said that the Big Fish casino may violate Washington’s anti-gambling statute. (Previous blog…
Racial Discrimination Lawsuit Against Airbnb Has the Potential to Change Online Marketplaces–Harrington v. Airbnb
Airbnb has admitted that some of its vendors have engaged in racial discrimination. It really had no choice in this admission, after both empirical and anecdotal evidence demonstrated it. Plaintiffs sued Airbnb for violating Oregon’s discrimination law. The magistrate judge…