Backpage Gets Bummer Section 230 Ruling in Washington Supreme Court–J.S. v. Village Voice
I have conflicting feelings about the legal efforts to eliminate online prostitution advertising. I’m aware of the critical role that online advertising can play in human sex trafficking and other associated crimes. However, it’s less clear to me whether shutting…
Travel Blogger Denied Tax Writeoff For European Backpacking Trip (Forbes Cross-Post)
It sounds like every blogger’s dream: take a half-year vacation to travel the globe–and make the trip tax-deductible by blogging it! Unfortunately, you can’t cheat the tax man so easily, as one enterprising blogger discovered the hard way. The Case…
Crowdsourcing Platform Isn’t Liable For Fraudulent Fundraiser–GiveForward v. Hodges (Forbes Cross-Post)
Inevitably, crowdsourcing platforms will enable fraudulent activities. When should the platform take legal responsibility for that fraud? A recent case suggests that crowdsourcing platforms have substantial legal protections for their users’ fraudulent campaigns. The Case This case involves an 8…
The Long-Term Promise of Privacy Federalism, Part 2
Yesterday, guest blogger Bilyana Petkova summarized some of her arguments in favor of “privacy federalism,” i.e., temporary state-level regulation of privacy matters, a topic she addresses more fully in a forthcoming article on SSRN. In helping her prepare her post,…
Google Books Defeats Copyright Lawsuit Using 512(c)–Avdeef v. Google
The wheels of justice move slowly. To wit, the main Authors Guild vs. Google Books litigation has been percolating in the courts for almost a decade (September 20 is the 10 year anniversary–how do you plan to celebrate?!). Despite the…
The Long-Term Promise of Privacy Federalism, Part 1 (Guest Blog Post)
[Eric’s introduction: as I’ve remarked previously, the academic and policy discourse about privacy focuses principally on the substantive legal boundaries of privacy law and pays comparatively little attention on which policymakers are best positioned to develop and supervise those rules. The…
Judge Expresses Frustration With Overbroad Discovery Requests for Social Media Evidence–Farley v. Callais
As we’ve discussed before, social media accounts are honeypots in litigation; they are irresistible data sources as an encapsulation of a person’s life. As a result, it’s become routine for litigators to seek massive amounts of social media evidence in…
Hashtags Are Not Trademarks—Eksouzian v. Albanese (Guest Blog Post)
By Guest Blogger Alexandra Roberts [Eric’s note: Prof. Roberts is a trademark expert at the University of New Hampshire School of Law. She’s writing a paper on hashtags as trademarks, a new topic of growing importance. When I saw this…
Two Tough Section 230 Rulings From Last Week–General Steel v. Chumley & Xcentric v. Smith
Last week, we saw two Section 230 losses. Initially I was troubled by this confluence, but after digesting these opinions, I’m pretty certain they both involve unusual facts that limit any real damage to Section 230’s immunity. However, as usual…
City Can’t Use Copyright To Censor Critical Videos–Inglewood v. Teixeira
Joseph Teixeira lives in Inglewood, California, and he’s not a fan of Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts, Jr. (In a sign of remarkable judicial restraint, the judge doesn’t crack a single “butt” joke or pun). Teixeira blogs his objections about…