Texas Supreme Court Is Skeptical About Wikipedia as a Dictionary–D Magazine v. Rosenthal
This is an interesting opinion from the Texas Supreme Court on citing Wikipedia as a dictionary. The underlying case involves an article in D Magazine titled “The Park Cities Welfare Queen.” The article purports to show that the plaintiff, Rosenthal,…
Court Strikes Probation Condition Against Using a Device Containing Encryption–In re Mike H.
Mike, a minor, pled guilty to committing sodomy on a minor against his girlfriend. The crime had no relationship to the Internet, although Mike and his girlfriend had texted each other and Mike admitted to masturbating to online pornography once…
Can Blogging Violate the Fair Housing Act?–Revock v. Cowpet Bay West Condo Ass’n
[Note: as I declared almost a decade ago, I don’t do April Fool’s jokes.] This case is a collision between dogs as emotional support animals and a “no dogs” condominium association rule. The civil rights implications of a “no pets”…
WARNING: Draft “No Immunity for Sex Traffickers Online Act” Bill Poses Major Threat to Section 230
I rarely blog about draft bills that have not yet been introduced. Sometimes those drafts never get introduced at all; other times, the draft bills are revised in key ways before introduction. This particular draft has been circulating for a…
Judge Balks At Section 230 Protection For Email Forwarding–Samsel v. DeSoto County School District
Today’s blog post covers a very long opinion (70 pages!) involving a school principal effectively firing a successful football coach in football-crazed northern Mississippi. If you want a taste of how much angst that can create, try to wade through…
Constitution Protects Publication of Politicians’ Home Address/Phone Number–Publius v. Boyer-Vine
Doe Publius (nice alias) runs the “The Real Write Winger” blog, hosted by WordPress. He was unhappy about California’s ammunition purchase registry, which publishes “the driver’s license information, residential address and telephone number, and date of birth for anyone who…
New Essay: Understanding the Consumer Review Fairness Act of 2016
I’ve posted a new essay, Understanding the Consumer Review Fairness Act of 2016, to SSRN. It will be published later this year in the Michigan Telecommunications and Technology Law Review (MTTLR). I trust most of you already know about the…
Section 230 Protects Grindr From Harrassed User’s Claims–Herrick v. Grindr
This is a well-constructed and thoughtful Section 230 ruling. If this case keeps going in the same direction, it has the potential to become a major Section 230 precedent. Herrick claims that ex-boyfriend JC used Grindr to launch a vicious…
Illinois Anti-SLAPP Law Doesn’t Apply To Law Firm Blog Posts–Bock & Hatch v. McGuireWoods
We’re revisiting the important and entirely self-referential issue of defamation liability for blogging about judicial opinions. As I’ve discussed before (this post is perhaps my most heartfelt), blogging about judicial opinions is automatically risky because at least one side has…
Ellen DeGeneres Defeats Lawsuit Over Breast Pun–TiTi Pierce v. Warner Bros
The Ellen Show, featuring Ellen DeGeneres, runs a periodic segment called “What’s Wrong with These Signs? Signs.” In Feb. 2016, the segment included a sign for “Nipple Convalescent Home” followed by the plaintiff’s real estate yard sign, displaying her name…