Dentist’s Defamation Lawsuit Against Yelp Preempted by Section 230–Braverman v. Yelp
By Eric Goldman Braverman v. Yelp, Inc., 2013 NY Slip Op 31407 (NY Sup. Ct June 28, 2013) Mal Braverman is a Manhattan dentist. He sued Yelp for defamation based on two allegedly defamatory user posts. I’m not sure which…
Employee Can’t Be Fired When His Login Credentials Are Used on Shared Computer to Access Porn — DOH v. Litten
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] West Virginia Department of Transportation v. Litten, 2013 WL 2662712 (W. Va. Ct. App. June 5, 2013) [pdf] Litten worked as a mechanic for the West Virginia Dept of Highway. He was fired for accessing porn…
Essay Explaining Why 47 USC 230 Should Immunize State Crimes
By Eric Goldman You’ve probably already heard that at the Summer 2013 NAAG meeting in Boston, some State Attorneys General indicated they will ask Congress to exclude state criminal prosecutions from the 47 USC 230 immunity. Although many folks believe…
Why Craigslist’s ‘Casual Encounters’ Is A Bad Spot To Catch Predators (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman Venson Villapando had, in the words of his psychologist, a “normal” heterosexual interest in “adolescent and adult females.” In 2009, he logged into Craigslist’s “casual encounters” section and responded to an ad with the headline “looking to get…
H1 2013 Quick Links, Part 4 (Miscellaneous)
By Eric Goldman and Jake McGowan CFAA/Trespass * My colleague Kyle Graham traces the early history of California Penal Code Sec. 502. * Andrew Sellars on the Aaron Schwartz prosecution and Rep. Lofgren’s proposed Aaron’s Law. Related blog post. Consumer Protection * Interesting…
H1 2013 Quick Links, Part 3 (Social Media and Content Regulation)
By Eric Goldman and Jake McGowan Facebook * Growing Facebook fatigue? * The FDA thinks that a pharma company liking a comment on its Facebook page constitutes an endorsement of the comment contents. * WSJ: More questions about how Facebook handles…
Facebook Posting of Criminal Trial’s Witness List Isn’t a “True Threat”–US v. Amaya
By Eric Goldman U.S. v. Amaya, 2013 WL 2548393 (N.D. Iowa, June 11, 2013) This is a quite lengthy sentencing opinion following Amaya’s meth conviction, a not uncommon circumstance given the disproportionately high meth sentences produced by the sentencing guidelines….
Court Denies Restraining Order Against Ex-Boyfriend Who Threatened to Post Revenge Porn — EC v. CBT
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] E.C. v. C.B.T., SR., A-1185-12T2 (N.J. Ct. App. May 6, 2013) Plaintiff and defendant lived together between May and August 2011, and after that had a relationship that plaintiff characterized as dysfunctional. Plaintiff sought and obtained…
UK’s New Defamation Law May Accelerate the Death of Anonymous User-Generated Content Internationally (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman Historically, United Kingdom defamation law has been victim-favorable. In an effort to modernize its defamation law, the UK Parliament recently enacted the Defamation Act 2013 (royal assent was given on April 25). The act generally makes it harder for…
Misguided Catfishing Scheme Leads to Discipline of College Students — Zimmerman v. Ball State
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with a comment from Eric] Zimmerman v. Ball State Univ., et al., 12-cv-01475-JMS-DML (S.D. Ind. Apr. 15, 2013). (The complaint.) Zimmerman and Sumwalt were students at Ball State University, a public university in Indiana. They apparently…