Congress Is About To Ruin Its Online Free Speech Masterpiece (Cross-Post)
[Before last week’s Senate hearing on SESTA, I posted a version of this blog post on the ACS Blog. This has been partially superseded by my Senate testimony, which I’ll post more about shortly.] In 1996, Congress became concerned that excessive liability…
Facebook Wins Appeal Over Allegedly Discriminatory Content Removal–Sikhs for Justice v. Facebook
[It’s impossible to blog about Section 230 without reminding you that Congress is on the cusp of gutting it.] I previously summarized this case: Sikhs for Justice (“SFJ”) is a human rights group advocating for Sikh independence in the Indian…
Global Content Removals Based on Local Legal Violations (Internet Law Casebook Excerpt)
[Eric’s note: I’m sharing an excerpt from my Internet Law casebook discussing transborder content removal orders, including the Equustek case.] From the Internet’s earliest days, the tension between a global communication network and local geography-based laws has been obvious. One…
Blogger Isn’t Liable for Anonymous Comments–Griffith v. Wall
[It’s impossible to blog about Section 230 without reminding you that Congress is on the cusp of gutting it.] Griffith blogs at the Lumberton Informer. He has criticized Wall, Lumberton’s municipal clerk. The blog allows anonymous comments, and Wall claimed…
Section 512(f) Complaint Survives Motion to Dismiss–Johnson v. New Destiny Church
Section 512(f) litigation has resulted in so much futility that it’s big news when a 512(f) complaint even survives a motion to dismiss. In this case, Johnson allegedly displayed copyrighted photos and videos of Paula White Ministries (the court implies…
Backpage Executives Must Face Money Laundering Charges Despite Section 230–People v. Ferrer
Yesterday, a California superior court judge dismissed pimping charge (due to Section 230) but did not dismiss money laundering charges against three Backpage executives. This ruling has potentially significant consequences for Backpage and its executives, the pending Congressional bills to…
How Section 230 Helps Sex Trafficking Victims (and SESTA Would Hurt Them) (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Alex F. Levy [Eric’s introduction: Alex Levy teaches Human Trafficking and Human Markets at Notre Dame Law School. She has written a timely and provocative article, The Virtues of Unvirtuous Spaces, about Backpage and online sexual commerce….
Facebook Defeats Another Case Over Not Removing User Comments–La’Tiejira v. Facebook
In terms of legal doctrine, this case is virtually identical to the Cross v. Facebook case I recently blogged. In both cases, the plaintiff sued Facebook for not removing user posts. In both cases, Facebook won an anti-SLAPP motion (CA…
Trademark Injunction Issued Against Print-on-Demand Website–Harley Davidson v. SunFrog
The print-on-demand business is a legally risky one. As I recently blogged, in June a court ruled that Zazzle did not qualify for the DMCA 512 safe harbor. This ruling is even more troubling. Are the days of print-on-demand services…
Facebook Defeats Lawsuit Over Failure to Remove User Pages–Cross v. Facebook
[It’s impossible to blog about Section 230 without reminding you that Congress is on the cusp of gutting it.] The principal plaintiff, performer Mikel Knight, was the subject of critical Facebook posts related to two fatal accidents by his tour…