1H 2019 Quick Links, Part 5 (Censorship, Defamation)
Censorship * Fortune: The Splinternet Is Growing * NY Times: India Proposes Chinese-Style Internet Censorship * South China Morning Post: No smoking, no tattoos, no bikinis: inside China’s war to ‘clean up’ the internet * NY Times: In China, an…
Comments on the Hikind v. Ocasio-Cortez Lawsuit Over AOC’s Twitter Blocks
The same day as the Second Circuit’s Knight First Amendment v. Trump ruling, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez was sued for blocking accounts on Twitter. See Hikind v. Ocasio-Cortez, 1:19-cv-03956 (E.D.N.Y. complaint filed July 9, 2019). The same-day turnaround on the complaint suggests…
A Recap of the Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Amending the California Consumer Privacy Act (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Tanya Forsheit, Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz PC [Eric’s note: it takes super-human dedication to watch a 12+ hour hearing on CCPA amendments. Though I’m willing to do a lot for blog readers, I didn’t have that level…
1H 2019 Quick Links, Part 4 (Section 230, Content Moderation)
Section 230 * Historical archive of Section 230 case materials (with Jeff Kosseff) * Some Congressmembers are developing a letter asking the State Department to delete the Section 230-like immunity from the USMCA. Background. * Cunningham v. Montes, 2019 WL…
Large and Diverse Coalition Issues a Statement of Principles to Help Evaluate UGC Liability Reform Proposals
Yesterday, I posted a 2,300 word takedown of Sen. Hawley’s anti-Section 230 bill. That post took me at least 6 hours of drafting time, and 3 weeks of chronological time, to prepare. I separately wrote a deconstruction of the UK…
![Comments on Sen. Hawley's "[Ending] Support for Internet Censorship Act"](https://blog.ericgoldman.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/censorship-meme-150x150.jpg)
Comments on Sen. Hawley’s “[Ending] Support for Internet Censorship Act”
Sen. Josh Hawley’s “[Ending] Support for Internet Censorship Act” (S. 1914) would require large(ish) Internet companies to prove to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that they publish user content in a politically neutral way–or categorically lose Section 230 immunity. In…
Amazon May Be Liable for Marketplace Items–Oberdorf v. Amazon
In what could be a seismic ruling, the Third Circuit held that Amazon is a legally responsible seller of defective marketplace items, exposing it to potentially enormous liability. This represents the worst loss yet for Amazon over marketplace sales. However,…
1H 2019 Quick Links, Part 3 (Trademarks)
* Williams-Sonoma v. Amazon, Case No.18-cv-07548-EDL (N.D. Cal. May 2, 2019): The first theory of infringement – that Amazon set up an unauthorized Williams-Sonoma website – is not plausible. The screenshots included in the complaint and/or attached as exhibits show…
1H 2019 Quick Links, Part 2 (Keyword Advertising)
* Grasshopper House LLC v. Clean & Sober Media LLC, 2019 WL 2762936 (C.D. Cal. July 1, 2019). Prof. Tushnet recaps the case. The passages that stood out to me: Lastly, Passages argues for a third mechanism to estimate Cliffside’s…
1H 2019 Quick Links, Part 1 (Copyright & More)
Copyright * Long v. Dorset, 2019 WL 861424 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 22, 2019). Dorset allegedly locked Long out of his Facebook page. Access was restored in 5 business days. The court says that’s expeditious enough for DMCA notice-and-takedown purposes: Plaintiff’s…