Sixth Circuit Rules that High-Volume Phone and Email Campaign Violates Computer Fraud and Abuse Act By Michael Hoven – Edited by Abby Lauer Pulte Homes, Inc. v. Laborers’ Int’l Union of N. Am., Nos. 09-2245; 10-1673 (6th Cir. Aug. 2, 2011) Slip opinion The Sixth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, which had granted the Laborers’ International Union of North America’s (“LIUNA”) motion to dismiss Pulte Homes’ ... Read More...
Archive for the ‘Internet’ Category
District Court Says CAN-SPAM Act Does Not Violate First Amendment By Samantha Kuhn – Edited by Chinh Vo U.S. v. Smallwood, 09-CR-00249 (N.D. Tex. July 15, 2011) Slip Opinion hosted by Scribd.co The District Court for the Northern District of Texas rejected a First Amendment challenge to the CAN-SPAM criminal statute, which prohibits the computer transmission of “multiple commercial electronic mail messages, with the intent to deceive or mislead recipients . . . . as to the origin of such ... Read More...
Companies provide popular online streaming services but face copyright challenges under the DMCA By Marina Shvarts – Edited by Chinh Vo The rising popularity of online music and video streaming is raising questions concerning what exactly is considered copyright infringement under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Slight variations in business models can lead to distinguishable precedent and unclear case law. As a result, some companies are attempting to negotiate licensing agreements, while others believe that their models are legal ... Read More...
Court Affirms Disciplining of Mortuary-Science Student for Threatening Facebook Posts, Relies on Tinker Standard for Censoring Speech in Higher Education By Matthew Becker – Edited by Abby Lauer Tatro v. University of Minnesota, 2011 WL 2672220 (Minn. Ct. App. July 11, 2011) Slip Opinion hosted by the Minnesota State Law Library The Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed a decision of the University of Minnesota Provost’s Appeals Committee, which had penalized mortuary-science student Amanda Tatro for off-campus posts to a social ... Read More...
By Heather Whitney – Edited by Esther Kang On June 28th, Google launched Google+, what appears to be its first major attempt to combat Facebook in the social networking space. While it has been said that Google+ shares more than a little in common with Facebook’s UI, from a policy perspective Google+ has attempted to distinguish itself from Facebook on two main fronts: first, more granular user control of content sharing (i.e. privacy), and second, increased data portability, giving users ... Read More...
