A Pre-History of the Trust & Safety Professional Association (TSPA)
I am part of a team that announced today the launch of two organizations, the Trust & Safety Professional Association (TSPA) and the Trust & Safety Foundation Project (TSF). TSPA will support the global community of professionals who develop and…
Cybersecurity Experts Support Supreme Court Review of Enigma v. Malwarebytes Ruling on Section 230(c)(2)(B)
On Friday, 14 cybersecurity experts filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, supporting Malwarebytes’ certiorari petition to review the Ninth Circuit’s 2019 Enigma v. Malwarebytes ruling regarding 47 U.S.C. 230(c)(2)(B)’s application to spyware classification decisions. The Juelsgaard Intellectual…
Per Section 230, Facebook Can Tell This Plaintiff To Piss Off–Fyk v. Facebook
Fyk posted pissing photos and videos to Facebook. Apparently he made some good money from it. Facebook blocked his content. With the (likely expensive) help of four lawyers, he sued Facebook in a lawsuit celebrated on Fox News. (Yes, Fox…
What is a “True Threat” Online?–In re. R.D.
This case involves a Twitter war of words between high schoolers shortly after a local school shooting. Some tweets may have been quoted song lyrics, others were typical nonsense teen bluster, and some may have been legally prosecutable threats. The…
Fox News Is a Flaming Pile of Garbage, But You Can’t Sue Them for That–WASHLITE v. Fox News
I can’t understand why anyone watches Fox News. Fox News isn’t a serious news organization. It has instead found a market niche for unwavering partisan disinformation. As Prof. Yochai Benkler (Harvard Law) showed in a comprehensive study of disinformation in…
My Galley by CJR Interview on Trump’s Anti-Section 230 Executive Order
At Galley by CJR, I did a one-hour real-time virtual “interview” with Mathew Ingram on the topic of “Trump vs. Social Media.” For background, you may want to review my 5,800 word blog post on Trump’s anti-Section 230 Executive Order…
Section 230 Ends Demonetized YouTuber’s Lawsuit–Lewis v. Google
Lewis ran a YouTube channel called “Misandry Today.” Misandry is hatred of men, like misogyny but with reversed genders. I didn’t look at Lewis’ content but I worry that its examples of alleged misandry actually might be presented to advance…
Court Rejects Another Lawsuit Alleging that Internet Companies Suppress Conservative Views–Freedom Watch v. Google
This is one of many “conservative” lawsuits claiming that Internet companies engage in bias and discrimination against them. Though they often blame Section 230 for this allegedly discriminatory behavior, this lawsuit fails without any reference to Section 230 at all….
Trump’s “Preventing Online Censorship” Executive Order Is Pro-Censorship Political Theater
Introduction We all knew the day would come when the Trump Administration would try to censor the Internet. This was inevitable because of Trump’s dictatorial lust, his antipathy towards independent media sources that can hold him accountable for his actions,…
High School Can’t Expel Student for Sharing Memes in Private Snapchat Conversation–JS v. Manheim Township School District
During downtime at home, high schoolers JS and “Student 1” gossiped about their peer “Student 2” via private Snapchat. JS thought Student 2 looked like a school shooter based on his hair and his wearing a “Cannibal Corpse” t-shirt. (TIL:…