The Sex Tape Problem…and a Possible Legislative Solution?
By Eric Goldman An inescapable fact of the digital era is that people will be depicted in digitized sex videos (“sex tapes”) that they wish did not exist. Sex tapes can be classified into a variety of types: * sex…
June 2008 Quick Links
By Eric Goldman Trademarks/Domain Names * Utah Lighthouse Ministry v. Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research, 2008 WL 22043807 (10th Cir. May 29, 2008). CMLP writeup. Nice 10th Circuit win for a gripe site against trademark infringement and cybersquatting. This…
May 2008 Quick Links, Part 2
By Eric Goldman Copyright * Google says it isn’t settling the Viacom lawsuit (I don’t believe it). * Interesting juxtaposition: (1) Chronicle of Higher Education: How It Does It: The RIAA Explains How It Catches Alleged Music Pirates and (2)…
Lori Drew Prosecuted for CFAA Violations–Some Comments, and a Practice Pointer
By Eric Goldman Before I get started, let me first say that my heart goes out to Megan Meier’s family. They have suffered a devastating tragedy, and I cannot possibly fathom the pain they must feel. As a result, I…
Content Generation and the Law
By Eric Goldman Last week I participated on a panel at the ION Game Conference in Seattle to discuss UGC in virtual worlds and online games. You can see a reasonably faithful transcript of the discussion here. Here’s a recap…
April 2008 Quick Links
By Eric Goldman Anti-Gaming * Even though Ticketmaster won its lawsuit, Minnesota overreacted to the Hannah Montana ticket crush by banning software to circumvent an online ticket allocation process. See Sec. 609.806. Check out the hyperbole in this press release!…
March 2008 Quick Links, Part II
By Eric Goldman Copyright * A lot of action on whether “making available” a file in a P2P share directory is copyright infringement, including Elektra v. Barker and London-Sire v. Doe. Patry summarizes the action. * Ticketmaster L.L.C. v. RMG…
School District Didn’t Violate First Amendment for Reassigning Teacher Who Blogged–Richerson v. Beckon
By Eric Goldman Richerson v. Beckon, 2008 WL 833076 (W.D. Wash. March 27, 2008) A school district appointed Richerson to a position with split responsibilities as a curriculum development specialist and an official mentor for other teachers. She then blogged…
Feb. 2008 Quick Links
By Eric Goldman Advertising * BusinessWeek: Monetizing social networking sites isn’t as easy as everyone had hoped, clickthrough rates are through the floor (0.04%!), and ad proliferation on the sites is driving users away. * Wilbur, Kenneth C. and Zhu,…
New Jersey Authorizes Ban of Sex Offenders’ Internet Access
By Eric Goldman New Jersey S1979 (signed December 27, 2007) New Jersey has passed a law allowing various punishment authorities (judges, parole officers, etc.) to restrict Internet use by convicted sex offenders. The main operative restriction says that these authorities…