Court Affirms Stalking and Harassment Conviction for Tagged Tweets–In re AJB
This is a stalking and harassment case involving tweets by classmates of the victim. The court recites the facts below: In March 2016, high school students, W.K., B.L., and appellant A.J.B., discussed that M.B., a fellow student who had been…
Kentucky Governor Can Block Constituents on Social Media–Morgan v. Bevin
This is a First Amendment lawsuit brought by Facebook and Twitter users against the Governor of Kentucky. Plaintiffs allege that the Governor (Bevin) violated their First Amendment rights by blocking them on Facebook and Twitter. Bevin wants to hear from…
Researchers’ Challenge to CFAA Moves Forward–Sandvig v. Sessions
This is a lawsuit brought by four professors and a media organization (First Look, publisher of the Intercept). Plaintiffs study real estate, finance, and employment transactions and seek to highlight the discriminatory effects of algorithms. To do so, they create…
Ninth Circuit Reinstates Virtual Platform Gambling Lawsuit Against Big Fish
This is a lawsuit against the parent of Big Fish Games (Churchill Downs*), alleging that the Big Fish Casino offers illegal gambling. The district court dismissed. (Here’s my post on that ruling: “Big Fish’s Virtual Casino Doesn’t Violate Washington’s Gambling Statute.”)…
Cox Loses DMCA Safe Harbor but Gets a New Trial on Contributory Infringement–BMG v. Cox
BMG sued Cox for the alleged copyright infringement of its users. The court described Cox’s “graduated” policy for terminating subscribers: The first notice alleging a subscriber’s infringement produces no action from Cox. The second through seventh notices result in warning emails…
Twitter Defamation Claim Defeated by a Question Mark–Boulger v. Woods
This is a defamation lawsuit brought against James Woods by a woman (Portia Boulger) who was wrongly identified as a Nazi supporter online. In March, candidate Trump had a rally in Chicago. The Tribune posted a photo of a woman…
Plaintiff’s Location-Based Privacy Claim Against BART Reporting App Fails
In Moreno v. S.F. Bay Area Rapid Transit District, the plaintiff sued BART and Elerts Corporation for allegedly violating several California privacy statutes and infringing plaintiff’s common law and constitutional privacy rights. The court rejects the claims. BART, in cooperation…
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…
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…