Google Play Defeats Lawsuit Over Unauthorized Bank Charges–Harvey v. Google
In March 2013, Susan Harvey bought a game via Google Play, which required her to electronically link her bank account. She alleges that hundreds of unauthorized charges hit her bank account, totaling thousands of dollars. Google allegedly offered to make…
Hackers Could Take Control Of Your Car, But You Can’t Sue Carmakers For That Risk (Forbes Cross-Post)
Cars contain millions of lines of software code, which makes them tempting targets for hackers. Further, with the increased automation of cars, we face growing risks that malicious hackers will remotely take control of cars and cause significant personal or…
Disney Not Liable For Disclosing Device IDs And Viewing Habits
This is another VPPA case grappling with the question of how the statute defines “personally identifiable information.” A recent key VPPA ruling addressed the issue of whether someone who downloads an app is a “subscriber” (answer: no), but the PII…
Facebook Beats Privacy Lawsuit Alleging Persistent Tracking
This is a lawsuit against Facebook alleging that it tracked people visiting websites throughout the web even if they were not logged on to Facebook. As the court describes the allegations, Facebook uses a persistent cookie that tracks a person’s…
Anti-Employer Chatter On Facebook Protected By NLRA–Triple Play v. NLRB
We previously blogged about this case, which involved employees who were discharged by Triple Play Sports Bar and Grille (the employer) for their Facebook activity: “NLRB Invalidates Employer’s Blogging Policy And Reverses Firing Based On Facebook Posts“. On appeal, the…
App Users Aren’t “Subscribers” Under the VPPA–Ellis v. Cartoon Network
Many VPPA cases involve free online streaming services. Here, plaintiff alleged that he downloaded the Cartoon Network app, and Cartoon Network then disclosed to Bango, an ad network, plaintiff’s device ID and the videos he viewed. Plaintiff also alleged that Bango…
The Perkins v. LinkedIn Class Action Settlement Notification Was Badly Bungled (Forbes Cross-Post)
Recently, millions of LinkedIn users received an email titled “LEGAL NOTICE OF SETTLEMENT OF CLASS ACTION.” The email told recipients about a proposed class action settlement in Perkins v. LinkedIn, involving “LinkedIn’s alleged improper use of a service called ‘Add…
Threatening to Post Sex Video to Facebook Isn’t a True Threat
Two post-Elonis cases show divergent approaches to true threat and harassment jurisprudence. Harrell v. State (Georgia): Harrell was charged and convicted of attempting to intimidating a court officer and animal cruelty. Apparently, he was charged with some violations as a…
Disparate Enforcement of Social Media Policy May Support Discrimination Claim
This is a Facebook termination case alleging discrimination by the employer. Plaintiff Chris Redford worked at KTBS as an on-air crime reporter. The station apparently had a social media policy that instructed employees to not respond to viewer complaints on social…
You Can’t Buy A Copyright Just To Bury It–Katz v. Chevaldina (Forbes Cross-Post)
In the United States, copyright law principally serves as an economic policy by protecting creators’ ability to recoup the investments they make in generating new works that have value to society. As a result, copyright law gets weird when it’s…