Claims that Emails were not Labeled as Ads and did not Disclose Tracking Preempted by CAN-SPAM — Martin v. CCH
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Martin v. CCH, 10-cv-3494 (N.D. Ill.; Mar. 24, 2011) Plaintiff received two emails from CCH, with the following subject lines: “Buy now pay Feb. 15” [and] “Offer extended – Buy now pay Feb. 15” Based on…
March 2011 Quick Links, Part 2
By Eric Goldman Trademark * Apple is on the road to CrazyTown with its attempt to secure and protect trademark rights in “App Store.” Among the “highlights” this month: – it sued Amazon. Marty’s comments. The Justia page. – Microsoft…
Court Denies Request for Discovery of Facebook and Twitter Account Information, Finding that the Request is a “Digital Fishing Expedition”
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Caraballo v. City of NY, Index No. 75535/08 (N.Y. Sup. Ct.; Mar. 4, 2011) Plaintiff suffered personal injuries “while performing work at 417 O’Gorman Avenue, also known as 45 Keegans Lane, on Staten Island.” Predictably, defendant…
Website Privacy Policy Supports Pseudonymous Poster’s Expectation of Privacy — Cornelius v. Deluca
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Cornelius v. Deluca, 10-Cv-027-BLW (D.Id.; Mar. 15, 2011) A district court judge in Idaho denied a request to unmask the identity of a pseudonymous forum poster. In support of its decision, the court looked to the…
Illinois Identity Theft Statute Partially Invalidated–People v. Madrigal
By Eric Goldman People v. Madrigal, 2011 WL 1074427 (Ill. March 24, 2011) Many state anti-identity theft laws are written very broadly. This loose drafting creates the possibility that they unintentionally restrict innocent–and indeed socially desirable–activity. Today’s case is a…
Court Refuses to Set Aside Order Requiring Disclosure of Twitter Users’ IP Addresses
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with some comments by Eric] In re: sec. 2703(d) Order; 10GJ3793; Miscellaneous Case No. 1:11dm00003 (E.D. Va. March 11, 2011) [pdf] A federal magistrate judge refused to vacate a previously issued order granting the government’s request…
Jan.-Feb. 2011 Quick Links, Part 2
By Eric Goldman Search Engines Google’s search algorithm has been very much in the news the past 2 months! * Google’s announcements: – “Google search and search engine spam” – Matt Cutts explains Google penalties in a video. – “Microsoft’s…
California Supreme Court Rules That a ZIP Code is Personal Identification Information — Pineda v. Williams-Sonoma
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Pineda v. Williams-Sonoma, S178241 (Cal. Supreme Court; Feb. 10, 2011) Plaintiff made a purchase at Williams-Sonoma and when she went to pay, the cashier asked for plaintiff’s ZIP code. Thinking she was required to provide it…
Court Dismisses Class Action Against Spokeo for Lack of Standing — Robins v. Spokeo
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Robins v. Spokeo, 10-cv-05306 (C.D. Cal. Jan. 27, 2011) Spokeo is a website that bills itself as an aggregator of hard-to-find information about people. Robins filed a complaint against Spokeo for violation of the Fair Credit…
Court: Husband’s Access of Wife’s Email to Obtain Information for Divorce Proceeding is not Outrageous
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Miller v. Meyers, 09-cv-6103 (W.D. Ark.; Jan 21, 2011) This case presents another fact pattern involving an increasingly common twist to the modern divorce proceeding – someone surreptitiously accesses his or her spouse’s email and on-line…