Top Internet Law Developments of 2018
My schedule tends to get busy around each new year, so my year-end recaps keep coming later and later. I hope it’s better late than never. It’s been a rough year for Internet law. As I tweeted in June: When…
2H 2018 Quick Links, Part 7 (Content Moderation, Section 230, & More)
[ugh, somehow this got lost in my drafts folder. Sharing it now…] * Vice: “The Impossible Job: Inside Facebook’s Struggle to Moderate Two Billion People.” If you read only one article on content moderation, choose this one. Things I learned included: Facebook…
Who Benefited from FOSTA? (Spoiler: Probably No One)
This post rounds up some FOSTA-related links I’ve aggregated over the past few months. There is no good news here. The data points suggest that in FOSTA’s first 9 months, it apparently has failed all of its policy goals while…
Must Universities Shut Down Constitutionally Protected Speech Forums That Also Enable Student Harassment?
This case involves an uproar at University of Mary Washington over Yik Yak, the now-departed social media service that enabled geofenced anonymous comments. Initially, “Within the Yik Yak conversational thread available at UMW, several students expressed — in offensive terms…
Announcing COMO Brussels, the Fourth Edition of the “Content Moderation at Scale” Conference Series, Feb. 5
I’m pleased to announce that there will be a fourth edition of the popular content moderation conference series, this time in Brussels. The event is titled “Content Moderation & Removal at Scale” and will be held on February 5, 2019,…
2H 2018 Quick Links, Part 2 (Trademarks)
* Chanel, Inc. v. Wgaca, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 158077 (SDNY Sept. 14, 2018): Chanel’s amended complaint plausibly alleges that WGACA’s use of the hashtag #WGACACHANEL infringes Chanel’s trademarks. It alleges that WGACA conjoined its acronym with the Chanel trademark…
2H 2018 Quick Links, Part 1 (Copyright)
* Capitol Records LLC v. ReDigi, Inc., No. 16‐2321 (2d Cir. Dec. 12, 2018): “ReDigi version 1.0’s process for enabling the resale of digital files thus inevitably involves the creation of new phonorecords by reproduction, even if the standalone digital…
Ninth Lawsuit Against Social Media Providers for “Materially Supporting Terrorists” Fails–Clayborn v. Twitter
This is the ninth different case where a court concludes that social media services aren’t liable for providing “material support” to terrorists. This particular litigation involves the San Bernardino shooting, but the underlying incident doesn’t matter much. Instead, the court…
Best and Worst Internet Laws [Repost from Concurring Opinions’ Archive]
[In 2007, I guest-blogged at the group law professor blog Concurring Opinions. With the demise of that blog, I am now archiving my guest posts on my own blog. This post first appeared on February 15, 2007.] __ [Preface: I’ve already…
MySpace Sued for Facilitating Offline Sexual Assaults [Repost from Concurring Opinions’ Archive]
[In 2007, I guest-blogged at the group law professor blog Concurring Opinions. With the demise of that blog, I am now archiving my guest posts on my own blog. This post first appeared on January 18, 2007.] AP reports that four families…