Top 10 Internet Law Developments of 2016
Donald Trump’s election as president pretty much dominated our thoughts about 2016 (though Brexit was pretty significant too). So I decided to break up my annual top 10 list into two separate top 5 lists, one election-related, one not. Top…
2H 2016 Quick Links, Part 9 (Privacy/Security)
* California AB 691: “Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act.” The key part is the new Probate Code Sec. 873(a): A user may use an online tool to direct the custodian to disclose to a designated recipient or…
Does Google’s Non-Disclosure Agreement With Employees Overreach? (Guest Blog Post)
Guest Post by Sharon K. Sandeen In the lead-up to this year’s Presidential election, there was a lot of chatter about the next “bomb-shell” bit of information that might be revealed about Donald Trump, particularly after his now-infamous pussy-grabbing comments….
Freelance Blogger Denied Unemployment Insurance–In re Mitchell
This case involves author Greg Mitchell. The Nation retained Mitchell as a freelance blogger in 2010. He was expected to blog on a daily/near-daily basis in exchange for $46,800/year paid monthly. He would be separately compensated for any pieces the…
Police Department’s Social Media Policy Is Unconstitutional–Liverman v. Petersburg
The City of Petersburg’s police department adopted a social media policy for police officers that included the following restrictions: Negative comments on the internal operations of the Bureau, or specific conduct of supervisors or peers that impacts the public’s perception…
Court Upholds Airbnb’s Terms of Service–Selden v. Airbnb
This lawsuit alleges that Airbnb’s “hosts” racially discriminate when accepting customers’ bookings. Airbnb sought to send the case to arbitration per its Terms of Service, which the plaintiffs challenges. Contract Formation Trying to sort through the nomenclature confusion created by…
Overly Broad Arbitration Clause Fails–Wexler v. AT&T
Plaintiff signed up for wireless service from AT&T Mobility. The operative agreement contained an arbitration clause that covered: 1) claims arising out of or relating to any aspect of the relationship between us, whether based in contract, tort, statute, fraud,…
Ninth Circuit Sends Uber Driver Claims to Arbitration
This is a consolidated lawsuit brought by Uber drivers asserting FCRA and employee misclassification claims. Both named drivers were terminated after negative information surfaced in their credit report. Both drivers agreed to a 2013 version of Uber’s driver agreement, and…
House Passes Consumer Review Fairness Act
Last night, the House passed the Consumer Review Fairness Act. The Senate passed the nearly identical Consumer Review Freedom Act back in December. I’ll discuss in a moment the minor variations between the two. Because of these differences, the Senate…
“Kurt The CyberGuy” Loses Publicity Rights Claims Against TV Station–CyberGuy v. KTLA
Knutsson was a technology reporter and creator of the “CyberGuy” persona. He worked for TV station KTLA between 1996 and 2011. In 2005, he entered into an agreement with KTLA to be paid an annual salary of $325,000 a year…