My Comments to the CPPA Regarding its Initial CPRA Proposed Regulations
I filed comments with the CPPA on their proposed regulations pursuant to the CPRA. Read my comments here. Preparing those comments was a truly joyless task. Analyzing CPRA regulations is literally “read them and weep.” Some hot spots: The CPPA…
Op-Ed: The Plan to Blow Up the Internet, Ostensibly to Protect Kids Online (Regarding AB 2273)
[I published this anti-AB 2273 op-ed in Capitol Weekly. For more on the problems with AB 2273, see my deep dive and short explainer.] The California Legislature is aggressively pursuing several wide-sweeping and radical proposals to regulate the Internet. One…
A Short Explainer of How California’s Age-Appropriate Design Code Bill (AB2273) Would Break the Internet
It’s “burn-down-the-Internet” week on the blog, during which I will recap three bad California bills that the California legislature is poised to enact. Today’s bill is AB 2273, the most pernicious of the three. It’s styled as a “protect kids…
School Can Discipline Student for Impersonating Teacher Online, Even if Other Students Added the Worst Content–Kutchinski v. Freeland School District
This case involves a 14 year old student HK (and his friends) who, while off-campus, thought it would be funny to create a fake Instagram profile of his biology teacher, Schmidt. I’ve blogged SO MANY similar cases since 2005 (see…
More Evidence of the CFAA Post-Van Buren/hiQ Jurisprudential Anarchy (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Kieran McCarthy The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”) is a law that was written before the commercial Internet was a thing (1984). And many judges—particularly Boomers in the rarified air of the appellate courts—grew up in…
Is the California Legislature Addicted to Performative Election-Year Stunts That Threaten the Internet? (Comments on AB2408)
It’s an election year, and like clockwork, legislators around the country want to show they care about protecting kids online. This pre-election frenzy leads performative bills that won’t actually help any kids. Today I’m blogging about one of those bills,…
Quick Links from the Past Year, Part 8 (Editorial Transparency)
* NY Assembly Bill A7865A. A dangerous new mandatory editorial transparency law to supplement Florida and Texas. Definition of “Hateful conduct” means “the use of a social media network to vilify, humiliate, or incite violence against a group or a…
Court Quashes 512(h) Subpoena on First Amendment Grounds–In re 512(h) Subpoena to Twitter
This case involves a pseudonymous Twitter account, “@CallMeMoneyBags.” The account tweeted some remarks, including photos, critical of billionaire Brian Sheth. Soon after, an entity called Bayside asserted copyright ownership of the photos and sent 512(c)(3) takedown notices to Twitter followed…
Will California Eliminate Anonymous Web Browsing? (Comments on CA AB 2273, The Age-Appropriate Design Code Act)
I’m continuing my coverage of dangerous Internet bills in the California legislature. This job is especially challenging during an election year, when legislators rally behind the “protect the kids” mantra to pursue bills that are likely to hurt, or at…
“Private” Facebook Groups Aren’t Legally “Private”–Davis v. HDR
The plaintiff, Davis, is a member of two Facebook groups: “Ahwatukee411,” with over 32k members as alleged in the complaint (as the screenshot on the right shows, it’s now over 34k members), and “Protecting Arizona’s Resources & Children” (“PARC”), with…