Fourth Amendment Limits NYC’s Demands for Airbnb Customer Records
As part of its ongoing crackdown on short-term lodging, New York City passed an anti-Airbnb ordinance scheduled to take effect next month. HomeAway was also affected by the law, but I’ll focus on Airbnb. The ordinance addresses the challenges faced…
41 California Privacy Experts Urge Major Changes to the California Consumer Privacy Act
41 California privacy lawyers, professionals, and professors are urging the California legislature to make major changes to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which the legislature hastily passed in 2018. The letter highlights six significant problems with the CCPA, including:…
Must Universities Shut Down Constitutionally Protected Speech Forums That Also Enable Student Harassment?
This case involves an uproar at University of Mary Washington over Yik Yak, the now-departed social media service that enabled geofenced anonymous comments. Initially, “Within the Yik Yak conversational thread available at UMW, several students expressed — in offensive terms…
Announcing COMO Brussels, the Fourth Edition of the “Content Moderation at Scale” Conference Series, Feb. 5
I’m pleased to announce that there will be a fourth edition of the popular content moderation conference series, this time in Brussels. The event is titled “Content Moderation & Removal at Scale” and will be held on February 5, 2019,…
2H 2018 Quick Links, Part 6 (IP, E-Commerce, Censorship, & More)
Intellectual Property * Daniel v. FanDuel (Ind. Oct. 24, 2018): “online fantasy sports operators that condition entry to contests on payment and distribute cash prizes do not violate the Indiana right of publicity statute when those organizations use the names, pictures,…
Twitter’s TOS Upheld Despite Unilateral Amendment Clause—Brittain v. Twitter
This is one of the many Trump-associated lawsuits (#MALGA) by so-called conservatives against Internet companies for allegedly squelching their voices. In this case, Craig Brittain, an erstwhile political candidate, had several campaign-related Twitter accounts suspended (including @CraigRBrittain, @AuditTheMedia, @SenatorBrittain, and…
2H 2018 Quick Links, Part 5 (Privacy, Advertising, Consumer Reviews)
Privacy * Winston Smith v. Facebook, No. 17-16206 (9th Cir. Dec. 6, 2018): “the connection between a person’s browsing history and his or her own state of health is too tenuous to support Plaintiffs’ contention that the disclosure requirements of…
2H 2018 Quick Links, Part 4 (Trespass, Contracts)
Trespass * Ryanair v. Expedia, 2018 WL 3727599 (W.D. Wash. Aug. 6, 2018). CFAA can apply when a US company scrapes data from an international website. * Jackie’s Enterprises, Inc. v. Belleville 2018 N.Y. Slip Op. 07225 (N.Y. App. Div….
Announcing the Fourth Edition of Advertising & Marketing Law: Cases & Materials by Tushnet & Goldman
Rebecca Tushnet and I are pleased to announce the publication of the fourth edition of our casebook, Advertising & Marketing Law: Cases & Materials. It is available for purchase in the following formats: * A DRM-free PDF file. Price: $12 *…
2H 2018 Quick Links, Part 3 (Keyword Advertising)
* St. George Executive Shuttle LLC v. Western Trails Charter & Tours LLC, 2018 WL 3350348 (D. Utah July 9, 2018). This is a competitive keyword advertising lawsuit involving the purported trademark “St. George Shuttle” (St. George is a city…