Revenge Porn Threat Justified Injunction
Clark and McLane engaged in a several month-long relationship, which ended when Clark notified McLane’s wife of the affair. McLane threatened Clark: He informed her that he had created a website in her name on which he planned to post…
TCPA Claim Over Yahoo!’s IM to SMS Messaging Survives Summary Judgment
Yahoo! offers instant message users the ability to receive a text message notification of an instant message. A customer received two messages, and sued for violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The court denies Yahoo!’s motion for summary judgment….
Law Student Can’t Enforce Defense Lawyer’s “Prove-Me-Wrong” Promise in TV Interview
This is a fun case! Serrano was accused of murdering (in 1997) four people in central Florida. The trial attracted publicity, and his defense lawyer Mason fought the case in the court of public opinion as well as in court….
Demoting Police Officer for Posting Confederate Flag to Facebook Isn’t First Amendment Violation
Duke was a police officer who was Deputy Chief of the Clayton State University Police Department. He had received uniformly positive job reviews. In the wake of the 2012 presidential election, he posted a confederate flag image along with the…
9th Circuit Says Plaintiff Had Standing to Sue Spokeo for Fair Credit Reporting Violations
Robins sued Spokeo alleging that Spokeo reported incorrect information about him—that he held a graduate degree and was wealthy—and this caused him difficulty in his job search and other harm. He alleged claims under the Fair Credit Reporting Act and…
Teacher’s Semi-Racy Facebook Photo Doesn’t Justify Firing – In re Laraine Cook
At what point does a teacher’s Facebook photo cross the line from humorous to inappropriate? Last December, an Idaho panel considered whether a teacher’s semi-racy photo justified the school district terminating her employment. See the photo in controversy at New…
H2 2013 Quick Links, Part 5 (Miscellaneous)
* Ars Technica: How the feds took down the Dread Pirate Roberts. A great story on how hard it is to remain anonymous online against determined federal agents. * Nice Reuters retrospective on Judge Rader. * DailyDot: The battle to destroy Wikipedia’s biggest sockpuppet army. Related: Is Wikipedia…
Vague Takedown Notice Targeting Facebook Page Results in Possible Liability–CrossFit v. Alvies
Alvies ran a blog & community centered around CrossFit, a fitness program. CrossFit complainted about the name of the blog (crossfitmamas.blogspot.com). In addition to make demands to Alvies, a CrossFit paralegal talked to at least one reader, and decried Avlies’…
H2 2013 Quick Links, Part 4 (Social Media, Advertising, E-Commerce)
Facebook * MarketingLand’s coverage of Facebook’s increasingly complicated algorithm for ranking news feed stories. * People v. DeJesus, 2013 WL 6327657 (Cal. App. Ct. Dec. 4, 2013): As for defendant’s claim about an Internet posting to a group as potentially violating the trial court’s…
H2 2013 Quick Links, Part 3 (Content Regulation)
Section 230 * The Good Wife on CBS had an episode, “Whack a Mole,” that addressed Section 230. It got Section 230 right on defamation damages but wrong on injunctions. * Preliminary injunction in Backpage v. Hoffman, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 119811 (D.N.J. Aug. 20, 2013)….