31 Bogus Passages from Florida’s Defense of Its Censorship Law–NetChoice v. Moody
Florida filed its opposition brief to the NetChoice/CCIA request to preliminarily enjoin SB 7072, the Florida censorship law. This post critiques some of the brief’s worst parts. As I’ve said before, writing blog posts like this isn’t fun for me….
School Can’t Discipline Student For Off-Campus Snapchat Messages–Mahanoy School District v. BL
A high school cheerleader, Brandi Levy (referred to as B.L. in the opinion), was disappointed about being placed on the JV squad instead of the varsity squad, as well as developments regarding her softball team. From the local convenience store,…
Ohio Bans Competitive Keyword Advertising by Lawyers
No one: Absolutely no one: Ohio Board of Professional Conduct (in the third decade of the 21st century….): * * * I guess we’re doing this again. It’s 2021, long past the time consumers have come to understand competitive keyword…
Social Media Providers Aren’t Liable for Domestic Mass-Shooting–Retana v. Twitter
This is one of the dozen-plus lawsuits filed against social media providers for allegedly facilitating terrorist attacks. This particular lawsuit involved a mass-shooting of Dallas police officers in 2016. Despite the underlying tragedies, the lawsuits against social media providers have…
Amicus Briefs Against Florida’s Censorship Law (SB 7072)
Five amicus briefs were filed in support of the NetChoice/CCIA motion for a preliminary injunction against the Florida censorship law. Highlights: Internet Association amicus brief: The February 1, 2021 coup in Myanmar exemplifies the need for quick and nimble responses…
Plaintiffs Request Preliminary Injunction Against Florida’s Censorship Law (SB 7072)–NetChoice v. Moody
Last week, I blogged about Florida’s censorship law, SB 7072. Late last week, NetChoice and CCIA filed a preliminary injunction request. I hope the court strikes down the law quickly, decisively, and with all of the opprobrium (and/or mockery) it…
Florida Hits a New Censorial Low in Internet Regulation (Comments on SB 7072)
This blog post reviews Florida’s Transparency in Technology Act, SB 7072. Like other recent efforts to censor the Internet (such as Trump’s anti-230 EO), this law is performative garbage. It was never a serious attempt at crafting good policy. Florida…
YouTuber Doesn’t Qualify as a Member of the “News Media”–Green v. Pierce County
Green runs a YouTube channel called “Libertys Champion” (with 18k subscribers now). Green had a scuffle with a Pierce County security guard, so he submitted public records requests to obtain more information about the county’s security force. The county provided…
Court Rejects Content Moderators’ Lawsuit Over Traumatic Work–Garrett-Alfred v. Facebook
I’ve heard many tragic stories from content reviewers about the personal challenges associated with their jobs, both during and after employment. As heartbreaking as those stories are, it’s never been clear to me what legal remedies might apply to those…
What Would Happen If Search Engines Had to Give Higher Visibility to Less Relevant Results?
I’m reporting on a study by Bin Han, Chirag Shah, and Daniel Saelid called “Users’ Perception of Search Engine Biases and Satisfaction.” The authors showed two pages of Bing results to study participants. (An aside: Bing…really?) The first page was…