State Laws Restricting Social Media Use by Sex Offenders Are Failing in Court

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with comments by Eric] Statutory schemes in three different states intending to regulating the online activities of convicted sex offenders have meet with judicial disapproval. Doe v. Nebraska, 09CV456 (D. Neb. Oct. 17, 2012): Nebraska’s statute…

My Talk to High Schoolers About Accountability for Online Content

By Eric Goldman Earlier this month, I spoke at Los Altos High School as part of their “History Week” (check out that speaker roster!). The topic title is “Internet and Social Media Usage Rights,” which I turned into a talk…

Is Recusal Required When a Judge is Facebook “Friends” With a Prosecutor? Question Certified to Florida Supreme Court — Domville v. State

[Post by @VBalasubramani] Domville v. State, No. 4D12 556 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. Jan. 16, 2013) [pdf] We blogged about a decision where a Florida court ruled that a judge who was hearing a criminal case and was Facebook friends…

Tenured Teacher Properly Fired for Facebook Quips About Her Students–In re Tenure Hearing of Jennifer O’Brien

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with comments by Eric] In the Matter of the Tenure Hearing of Jennifer O’Brien, State Operated School District of the City of Patterson, Passaic County, 2013 WL 132508 (Jan. 11, 2013) [pdf] O’Brien taught in New…

Top Ten Internet Law Developments of 2012 (Forbes Cross-Post)

By Eric Goldman I’m pleased to share my list of top 10 developments of 2012: #10: The Push Towards Anti-Class Action Arbitration Clauses.  In 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion that businesses may be able to adopt mandatory…

Q4 2012 Quick Links, Part 2 (Privacy, Advertising, Content)

By Eric Goldman Privacy/Security * Knowing how the FTC is cracking down on privacy violations and deceptive persuasion techniques, it’s a little jarring to see how aggressive Obama’s campaign was on both fronts. NY Times (1, 2), WSJ and Time….

Privacy Plaintiffs in Deep Packet Inspection Case Get No Love From the Tenth Circuit — Kirch v. Embarq Managmenet

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Kirch v. Embarq Management, No. 11-3275 (10th Cir. Dec. 28, 2012) This is an appeal from one of the many lawsuits against IAPs for implementing the ill-fated NebuAd “deep packet inspection” system. Here’s my post on…

Section 230 Still Keeping the Pro Se Plaintiffs at Bay–Klayman v. Facebook, and More

By Eric Goldman I’m personally committed to blogging every Section 230 case I see, but I fell off the wagon in the second half of 2012. So what better way to usher out 2012 and ring in the new year…

Google’s Privacy Policy Integration Initially Defeats Legal Challenge — In re Google Privacy Policy Litigation

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with comments from Eric] In re Google, Inc. Privacy Policy Litigation, C 12-01382 PSG (N.D. Cal.; Dec. 28, 2012) In a decision that should be closely watched by the Instagram plaintiffs who are complaining about Instagram’s…

Court Dismisses Class Action Against Apple Over Its App Developers’ Information Collection Practices – Pirozzi v. Apple

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with comments from Eric] Pirozzi v. Apple, 2012 WL 6652453 (N.D. Cal.; Dec. 20, 2012) This is one of several putative class actions over the information collection practices of apps. I previously covered how the lawsuit…