Court Declares Parts of Twitter’s TOS Unconscionable–Gerber v. Twitter
This is a data breach case involving a flaw in Twitter’s API that allowed malefactors to steal information about 200M Twitter users. Twitter invokes its TOS, including its warranty disclaimer and limitation of liability, against the plaintiffs’ claims for breach…
Can EdTech Vendors Force Parents into Arbitration?–Shanahan v. IXL
IXL Learning sells edtech subscription services to schools. The plaintiffs claim that IXL “collected and monetized the data of millions of school-age children who used the IXL platform without parental consent,” in violation of the ECPA and state law. IXL…
Another “Sign-in-Wrap” TOS Formation Process Fails–Morrison v. Yippee
When properly implemented, “sign-in-wraps” support TOS formation. Unfortunately, some websites make dubious choices in their implementation, even though the protocols for proper formation seem so simple to me. Courts are also struggling with how to compare “sign-in-wraps” to “clickwraps,” which…
What Is It With “Kennedy” Politicians Bringing Weak Lawsuits Against Facebook?–Baldwin-Kennedy v. Meta
Ronda Baldwin-Kennedy, a lawyer, ran for the US Senate in Nevada as a Republican. She got less than 2,000 votes in the June 2024 primary. Now, she’s suing Meta for a variety of gripes related to her Facebook and Instagram…
The VPPA May Be a Dinosaur Statute, But It’s Very Much Alive in the Second Circuit–Salazar v. NBA
NBA.com passed along video viewing information to Facebook using the Facebook Pixel, including “(1) the title of the NBA.com video a user watched, (2) that video’s URL, and (3) the user’s “Facebook ID” (FID)—a number unique to each individual Facebook…
Pixel Case Against Google “Jumps the Shark”–Doe I v. Google (Catch Up Post)
It feels like we are getting a pixel ruling every day. I’ve ignored most of them. I’ve decided this one from 2 months ago is worth blogging, even at this date, given Judge Chhabria’s treatment of these claims. The court…
Augmented Reality Filters May Violate Privacy Law–Hartman v. Meta
This case involves augmented reality (AR) effects/”filters” that people can use to doctor up images and videos on social media, such as the ability to add virtual bunny ears, flower crowns, or cat whiskers to people in the image or…
Another Texas Online Censorship Law Partially Enjoined–CCIA v. Paxton
This case involves HB 18, one of the multitudinous online censorship laws the Texas Legislature keeps spewing out. This particular one requires “digital service providers” to age-authenticate all users. [This law extends HB 1181, which also requires age-authentication by some…
AWS Can’t Shake BIPA Lawsuit for Providing Services to NBA 2K–Mayhall v. Amazon
[This opinion from May just showed up in my alerts. I believe that’s because the court and parties are battling over redactions. There have been other decisions involving BIPA, NBA 2K, and sometimes AWS that I haven’t comprehensively blogged. I…
When It Comes to Section 230, the Ninth Circuit is a Chaos Agent–Estate of Bride v. YOLO
The Ninth Circuit is interpreting Section 230 again. Time to grab your tissue box. * * * The Jenga-ing of Section 230 continues in the Ninth Circuit. This time, the court blows up the Barnes precedent, which created a promissory…