Nov.-Dec. 2010 Quick Links, Part 4

By Eric Goldman Blogs and Boards * Reuters on the wild-and-wooly world of investor message boards. * KingCast.net v. Friends of Kelly Ayotte, 2010 WL 4683829 (D.N.H. Nov. 2, 2010). Blogger’s unsuccessful lawsuit to gain mandatory access to a candidate’s…

Court Rejects Constitutional Challenge to TCPA Based on Vagueness in “Prior Express Consent” Exception — Kramer v. Autobytel, Inc.

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Kramer v. Autobytel, Inc., et al., 10-cv-02722 CW (N.D. Cal.; Dec. 29, 2010) We’ve blogged a bunch about cases involving defendants accused of sending text messages – none of them have resolved favorably in favor of…

Nov.-Dec. 2010 Quick Links, Part 2

By Eric Goldman Wikileaks Wikileaks has been on my mind for the past 2 months, but the stories have moved faster than I can. From my perspective, Wikileaks is principally a story about The Empire Strikes Back (It is a…

MySpace Profile and Photo Evidence Used to Support Conviction for “Participation in Criminal Gang Activity” — State v. McCraney

[Post by Venkat] State v. McCraney, 2010-Ohio-6128 (Ohio Ct. App.; Dec. 15, 2010) There has been a proliferation of MySpace (and more recently, Facebook) cases in the criminal context. Most of these cases involve evidentiary issues where the prosecution seeks…

Court Finds Juvenile Delinquent Based on Allegedly Offensive Instant Messages — In re Alex C.

[Post by Venkat with additional comments by Eric] In re Alex C., No. 2009-399 (N.H. Supreme Court; Nov. 30, 2010) Rachel K.’s daughter ran away from home. In an effort to locate her, Rachel logged on to her daughter’s AOL…

Court Finds That Threatening Video Posted to YouTube and Facebook Can Constitute a “True Threat” — US v. Jeffries

[Post by Venkat] US v. Jeffries, 10-CR-100 (E.D. Tenn) (Report and Recommendation; Oct. 22, 2010) Background: The defendant was charged with transmitting a video through interstate commerce which contained a threat to kill or injure a Knox County Chancellor. The…

Forwarding Defamatory Email Immunized by 47 USC 230–Mitan v. A. Neumann

By Eric Goldman Mitan v. A. Neumann & Associates, 2010 WL 4782771 (D. N.J. Nov. 17, 2010) This is another email forwarding case. Others in this line include Phan v. Pham (2010), John Doe Anti-Terrorism Officer v. City of New…

Dentist Review on Yelp Gets Partial Anti-SLAPP Protection–Wong v. Jing

By Eric Goldman Wong v. Jing, 2010 WL 4457330 (Cal. App. Ct. Nov. 9, 2010). The SF Chronicle article on the complaint filing. The dentist’s “open letter” about the lawsuit filing. Tai Jing posted a negative review of Dr. Yvonne…

Victim’s Misstated Age on MySpace Could Contribute to Mistake of Age Defense–State v. Berry

By Eric Goldman State v. Berry, 2010 WL 4226707 (Or. App. Ct. Oct. 27, 2010) This is yet another case involving sex with an underage girl where the defendant believed she was older than she actually was. See my previous…

Blog Host Can’t Be Bound by TRO for User Posts (Blockowicz redux)–Bobolas v. Does

By Eric Goldman Bobolas v. Does 1-100, 2010 WL 3923880 (D. Ariz. Oct. 1, 2010) This lawsuit involves Bobolasgate.info, a Greek-language blog/website that appears to criticize Greek real estate and media mogul George Bobolas (ranked as one of the top…