Grokster Watch
So just about all of my professional peers are on a Grokster opinion watch. Unless something weird happens, the opinion should come out either this Monday (June 20) or next (June 27). As this Monday grows closer, our collective anxiety…
Groups Sue to Strike Down Utah’s Anti-Internet Porn Law
King’s English, Inc. v. Shurtleff (D. Utah complaint filed June 9, 2005). As expected, the ACLU is leading a charge against Utah for their latest anti-porn initiative (HB 260). The AP story. Declan’s News.com story. I have already predicted that…
Talk on 47 USC 230
I’m giving a talk later today on 47 USC 230 at Southwestern Law School. This talk allowed me to organize my thoughts on the state of the law. My slides.
New Gripe Site Case–Faegre & Benson v. Purdy
Faegre & Benson v. Purdy, Civil File No. 03-6472 (D. Minn. Apr. 27, 2005). Another ruling in the long-running story of William Purdy, an anti-abortionist who uses extreme forms of gripe sites against his targets. This particular ruling was a…
Yahoo Sued for Allowing Child Porn Operators to Use Site Tools
Yahoo has been sued for allowing child pornographers to communicate with each other using hosting and messaging services from Yahoo Groups. Prediction: Yahoo will win this case on a motion to dismiss based on 47 USC 230. Why? There is…
Schwartz on Adware Advertisers
Ari Schwartz comes out swinging against adware advertisers, saying “Advertisers, too, should be pushed to take greater responsibility for the companies they advertise with.” His remarks raise a number of questions, including: 1) Is there something unique about the adware…
Does AskJeeves Have a Spyware/Adware Problem? Diller Says No. I Say…
Ben Edelman leveled two charges at AskJeeves on Monday. First, Ben asserts that AskJeeves targets kids for toolbar downloads. Second, Ben asserts that an AskJeeves distributor exploits security holes to install the toolbar without consent. This follows on the heels…
Walmart Foundation Uses Copyright to Curtail Griper
The Walmart Foundation has gone after the gripe site “walmart-foundation.org” using 512(c)(3) notices to take down images that the griper took from walmartfoundation.org. A few observations about this: * copyright is an extremely effective tool against gripers. Using a 512(c)(3)…
Grokster Oral Arguments
If you haven’t seen it elsewhere, the transcript from the oral arguments in Grokster.
Talk on 47 USC 230 at Michigan State
I’m going to be talking tomorrow about derivative liability at a conference at Michigan State University Law School. You can see a preview of my talk. Unquestionably, my perspective is colored by my experiences at Epinions!