Facebook Scores Initial Win Against Privacy Plaintiffs Over Data Leakage Claims — In re Facebook Privacy Litigation

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] In re Facebook Privacy Litigation, 2011 WL 2039995 (N.D. Cal.; May 12, 2011) There are so many recent privacy class actions out there, it’s become tough to keep track of them all. One of the early…

Flash Cookies Lawsuit Tossed for Lack of Harm–La Court v. Specific Media

By Eric Goldman La Court v. Specific Media, Inc., 8:10-cv-01256-GW-JCG (C.D. Cal. April 28, 2011) Lawsuits over cookies seem so Y2K to me. I thought we’d pretty much concluded that placing cookies wasn’t actionable a decade ago (see, e.g., In…

Judge Recognizes Loss of Value to PII as Basis of Standing for Data Breach Plaintiff — Claridge v. RockYou

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with comments from Eric] Claridge v. RockYou, 2011 WL 1361588 (N.D. Cal.; Apr. 11, 2011) RockYou is a developer and publisher of applications for use with Facebook, MySpace, hi5, and Bebo. RockYou’s applications allow users to…

Top 5 Cyberlaw Developments of 2010, Plus a 2010 Year-in-Review

By Eric Goldman Earlier this Fall, I posted my top 8 trends in Internet law, and that’s a good place to start if you want to see how I think things are developing. Because of that post, this year I’m…

Deep Packet Inspection (NebuAd) Litigation: Court Dismisses ECPA Claim but CFAA Claim Continues

[Post by Venkat with comments by Eric] Mortensen v. Bresnan Comm., CV 10-13-BLG-RFC (D. Mont. Dec. 13, 2010) A district court in Montana hearing one of the many NebuAd “deep packet inspection” lawsuits partially granted a defendant’s motion to dismiss….

Anti-Bot Restrictions Aren’t Copyright Misuse–Oracle v. Rimini Street

By Eric Goldman Oracle USA, Inc. v. Rimini Street, Inc., 2:10-CV-00106-LRH-PAL (D. Nev.). Decision on Rimini Street’s motion to dismiss, Aug. 13, 2010. Decision on Oracle’s motion to dismiss Rimini Street’s counterclaims, Oct. 29, 2010. As the world watches the…

Former Employee’s ‘Email Barrage’ Does Not Support CAN-SPAM or Computer Fraud and Abuse Act Claims — Nyack Hosp. v. Moran

[Post by Venkat] Nyack Hosp. v. Moran, 08 Civ. 11112 (SCR)(PED) (S.D.N.Y.; Oct. 20, 2010) Moran was employed by Nyack Hospital. When the employment relationship ended he: sent [an unspecified number of] e-mails, including a 17-page attachment, to over “100…

Anti-Scraping Lawsuit Largely Gutted–Cvent v. Eventbrite

By Eric Goldman Cvent, Inc. v. Eventbrite, Inc., 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 96354 (E.D. Va. Sept. 14, 2010). Given the amount of scraping taking place every day all over the web, scraping lawsuits are surprisingly infrequent. In this ruling, a…

Judge Denies Facebook’s Request for Judgment on the Pleadings and Strikes Power.com Counterclaims — Facebook v. Power.com

[Post by Venkat, with additional comments by Eric] Facebook v. Power Ventures, Inc., Case No. C 08-05780 (N.D. Cal. July 20, 2010) Background: Facebook and Power Ventures (Power.com) have been locked in a battle over whether Power.com should be allowed…

EFF Weighs in on Facebook v. Power Ventures — Facebook v. Power Ventures

[Post by Venkat] Facebook v. Power Ventures, Case No. 5:08-cv-05780 JW (N.D. Cal.) (Facebook Motion) (EFF Amicus Brief) Facebook and Power Ventures have been locked in a dispute over whether Power Ventures can access Facebook’s website and network outside of…