My schedule tends to get busy around each new year, so my year-end recaps keep coming later and later. I hope it’s better late than never. It’s been a rough year for Internet law. As I tweeted in June: When…

[ugh, somehow this got lost in my drafts folder. Sharing it now…] * Vice: “The Impossible Job: Inside Facebook’s Struggle to Moderate Two Billion People.” If you read only one article on content moderation, choose this one. Things I learned included: Facebook…

Recap of the California Assembly Hearing on the California Consumer Privacy Act

Yesterday, the California Assembly Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection held a hearing on the California Consumer Privacy Act. I believe this is the first legislative hearing ever on the law. The initial passage took place in a frenetic week,…

Another Politician Probably Violated the First Amendment By Blocking a Constituent on Twitter--Campbell v. Reisch

I’m shaking my head at how many politicians block their constituents on social media. What a terrible practice. Today’s case is particularly mind-blowing. Rep. Reisch is a representative in the Missouri House of Representatives tweeting @CheriMO44. The court describes the allegations:…

Copyright May Protect a Car Wash's Liability Disclaimer--Rassamni v. Fresno Auto Spa

A pretty interesting copyright dispute is brewing in unexpected circumstances: among rival car washes in Fresno. The plaintiff includes the following language in its brochure and inspection sheet: Dear Customer, While it is our intent to provide you with the…

A Status Report on the California Consumer Privacy Act

Yesterday, I did a webinar for the California Lawyers Association on the status of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). This post recaps the discussion. A Quick Overview of the CCPA The CCPA imposes 6 new obligations on covered businesses:…

What's New With Emoji Law? An Interview

I did an interview with Vanessa Blum of the Recorder about emoji law. It was first published here. The text: * * * Santa Clara University law professor Eric Goldman is an expert on internet speech. Lately, he’s been rather…

Emoji Law 2018 Year-in-Review

As I’ve mentioned before, I track every U.S. court opinion in Westlaw and Lexis that references “emoji” or “emoticon.” This is not a comprehensive census for several reasons, including my inability to set up alerts when a court displays the…

Dreamstime sells stock photos. It started running Google AdWords in 2004. In 2015, Google organic (?) referrals to Dreamstime “plummeted,” allegedly reducing its number of new customers by 30% in a year.  (The opinion isn’t crystal-clear that the traffic drop was…

Who Benefited from FOSTA? (Spoiler: Probably No One)

This post rounds up some FOSTA-related links I’ve aggregated over the past few months. There is no good news here. The data points suggest that in FOSTA’s first 9 months, it apparently has failed all of its policy goals while…