Another Collision of Housing Regulations and Online Innovation–SF Housing Rights Committee v. HomeAway
This is another lawsuit over short-term housing rentals in San Francisco. You’ve been watching the litigation over the San Francisco regulation (Section 41A.5(g)) requiring “hosts” (short-term landlords) to register with the city, limiting the number of days that a unit…
Section 230 Protects Google’s Decision Not To De-Index Content–Bennett v. Google
Dawn J. Bennett was a financial advisor in major trouble with the SEC. She also has a sporting apparel company. She hired an SEO, Pierson, to improve the search engine indexing of her website. After a payment dispute, Pierson posted…
Does the Packingham Ruling Presage Greater Government Control Over Search Results? Or Less? (Guest Blog Post)
By guest blogger Heather Whitney [Heather is a Visiting Researcher at Harvard Law School (Spring 2017). She has also been Bigelow Fellow & Lecturer in Law at University of Chicago Law School (2014-2016) and a Googler (2007-2010). She will be…
Ban on Sex Offenders Using Social Media Violates First Amendment–Packingham v. North Carolina
Yesterday, the Supreme Court struck down a North Carolina law that banned registered sex offenders from using social media sites. It’s a rare treat to get a Supreme Court opinion delving into Internet content regulations, and as a bonus, this…
“Offensive, Rude, Annoying, Mean-Spirited & Ill-Advised” Blog Posts Aren’t Defamatory–Milazzo v. Connolly
This is another case study of the overly litigious world of homeowners’ associations. For example, a few months ago, I blogged about another lawsuit involving a condo association, its no-pet policy, and a string of vitriolic blog posts over residents…
Facebook Isn’t Liable for Fake User Account–Caraccioli v. Facebook
I blogged about this case last year. (This case is also indexed in our compendium of nonconsensual pornography cases). In my prior post, I described the facts: Franco Caraccioli is a third-year law student in San Diego. For reasons not…
Recapping the “Can Technology Rescue Democracy” Essay Series at The Atlantic
As I mentioned before, I helped organize a series of essays at The Atlantic addressing the question: “Is technology hurting our democracy, and can it help save it?” The series is now complete, so I thought it was worth revisiting…
Facebook Defeats Lawsuit Over Material Support for Terrorists–Cohen v. Facebook
We’ve seen a cluster of lawsuits against social media sites based on their alleged provision of material support to terrorists. The first substantive ruling–in Fields v. Twitter, now on appeal to the Ninth Circuit–was a decisive plaintiff loss, casting a…
Lawsuit Against Ripoff Report Dropped After Discovery–Vision Security v. Xcentric (Guest Blog Post)
By guest bloggers Jeffrey J. Hunt and Rachel Lassig Wertheimer [Eric’s introduction: this post is written by lawyers who represented Ripoff Report in one of their multitudinous lawsuits. Because the authors were also advocates in this case, you might assume this…
How Is Texting a Dick Pic Like Masturbating in a Person’s Presence?–State v. Decker
My apologies for the indelicate headline. If you’re reading this because you’re hoping for some salacious insights regarding sexting, dick pics or masturbation, this post will disappoint you. An obvious protip: taking advice from a law professor on such topics…