California’s New ‘Online Eraser’ Law Should Be Erased (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman People mocked Google CEO Eric Schmidt for his 2010 suggestion that teenagers should change their names when they turn 18 to avoid the indiscreet and ill-advised Internet posts they made as youths. The California legislature thought it…
Creating Parody Social Media Accounts Doesn’t Violate Computer Fraud & Abuse Act – Matot v. CH
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Matot v. CH, et al, 13-cv-153-TC (D.Or.) (Report and Recommendation, Aug. 19, 2013) (Order Dismissing Lawsuit, Sept. 26, 2013) This is a strange lawsuit brought by an assistant middle high school principal who alleged that defendants…
Court Upholds Doocing For Snarky Facebook Post — Rodriquez v. Wal-Mart
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Rodriquez v. Wal-Mart, 2013 U.S. App. 19345 (5th Cir. Sept. 19, 2013) [
Is There Any Way to Cure An “Accidental” Download of Child Pornography?
Crabtree v. Commonwealth of Kentucky, No. 2011-CA-000452-MR (Ky. Ct. App. Aug. 17, 2012) By Eric Goldman [Introductory note: this post has been percolating for quite some time, in part because of its troubling implications. The only definitive lesson–never EVER download…
The First Amendment Protects Facebook “Likes” – Bland v. Roberts
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani, with comments by Eric] Bland v. Roberts, No. 12-1671 (4th Cir. Sept. 18, 2013). Plaintiffs were a group of employees of the Sheriff’s department, who brought First Amendment claims against the Sheriff. They alleged they were…
Another Case Involving School Discipline for a Violent Post on a Social Networking Site — Wynar v. Douglas County School Dist.
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Mynar v. Douglas County School Dist, 2013 WL 4566354 (9th Cir. Aug 29, 2013) [pdf] This is a school discipline case involving a student’s MySpace posts: • “its pretty simple / i have a sweet gun…
Big Victory In Effort To Curb Libel Tourism–Trout Point Lodge v. Handshoe (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman Trout Point Lodge, Ltd. v. Handshoe, 2013 WL 4766530 (5th Cir. Sept. 5, 2013) Compared to other countries, the United States has relatively narrow defamation laws. The First Amendment significantly restricts defamation claims, and legislatures have provided…
High Schooler’s Facebook Post Can Constitute the Crime of Menacing – In re P.T.
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with comments by Eric] In the Matter of P.T., 2013 – Ohio- 3881 (Ohio Ct. App. Sept. 9, 2013) [pdf] This is another online threat case, this time involving online comments that constituted the crimes of…
When Should Search Engines Ignore Court Orders To Remove Search Results? (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman Companies and individuals are constantly seeking more effective ways to scrub unwanted online content. One common technique is to get a court declaration that content is unlawful and should be removed, and then send that ruling to…
Yelp Gets Another Anti-SLAPP Victory in Lawsuit Over Consumer Review—Bernath v. Tabitha J.
Bernath v. Tabitha J., 1305-06167 (Ore. Cir. Ct. Aug. 26, 2013) The plaintiff, who is also a lawyer (and surely you recall how I feel about lawyer-plaintiffs), has repeatedly written about this case online focusing on different facts, but I’m…