Maybe Ripoff Report’s luck in court is finally running out. I recently blogged on a bizarre case in Iowa where the court held that Ripoff Report couldn’t claim Section 230 protection for contributions made by a guy named Meade. I…
The First Amendment plays a crucial role in protecting free speech in our country, but the Constitution only sets a floor, not a ceiling, for what legislatures must do to promote free speech. Legislatures can, and do, go further to…
Way before sharing economy labor practices fueled presidential candidate soundbites, there have been allegations that users contributing content and services to websites were employees. For example, an employment lawsuit over AOL’s “Community Leader” program from the late 1990s led to…
This is the latest update in the long-running case involving a real estate mogul, Raanan Katz, who didn’t like a photo taken of him in public. Katz bought the copyright to the photo and then sued a blogger for republishing…
I have conflicting feelings about the legal efforts to eliminate online prostitution advertising. I’m aware of the critical role that online advertising can play in human sex trafficking and other associated crimes. However, it’s less clear to me whether shutting…
It sounds like every blogger’s dream: take a half-year vacation to travel the globe–and make the trip tax-deductible by blogging it! Unfortunately, you can’t cheat the tax man so easily, as one enterprising blogger discovered the hard way. The Case…
This lawsuit asserts Sony failed to purge Video Privacy Protection Act-covered information and made impermissible transfers to an affiliated entity. The district court dismissed, among other reasons, because it found the VPPA did not create a cause of action for…
Inevitably, crowdsourcing platforms will enable fraudulent activities. When should the platform take legal responsibility for that fraud? A recent case suggests that crowdsourcing platforms have substantial legal protections for their users’ fraudulent campaigns. The Case This case involves an 8…
This case involved a teacher who maintained a pseudonymous blog that, along with her personal observations and musings, chronicled some of her frustrations with students. One post in particular talked about her challenges with providing tailored feedback for her students,…
Yesterday, guest blogger Bilyana Petkova summarized some of her arguments in favor of “privacy federalism,” i.e., temporary state-level regulation of privacy matters, a topic she addresses more fully in a forthcoming article on SSRN. In helping her prepare her post,…