Copyright’s Long Arm: Foreign Website Found to Infringe U.S. Copyright Law by Providing U.S. Viewers Access to Site Content
- If a web server located outside the United States hosts video content that can be viewed by Internet users located in the United States , does a public performance result under U.S. copyright law? This has been a topic of hot debate for a... ›
Location Information Is Protected by the 4th Amendment, SCOTUS Rules
By: Robert S. Litt
As close observers of the implications of privacy law on companies’ data collection, usage and disclosure practices , we at Socially Aware were among the many tech-law enthusiasts anticipating the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Carpenter v. United States , in which the... ›Five Things to Know About Smart Contracts
Computer scientist and legal scholar Nick Szabo first proposed the idea of “smart contracts” in 1996. Szabo published his initial paper on the topic in a publication called Extropy , a journal of transhumanism, a movement seeking to enhance human intellect and physiology by... ›Don’t Forget to Hit “Delete”: FTC Blog Post Clarifies COPPA Information Deletion Requirement
By: Julie O'Neill
Most companies are familiar with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and its requirement to obtain parental consent before collecting personal information online from children under 13. Yet COPPA also includes an information deletion requirement of which companies may be unaware. On May... ›Social Links: Laws affecting politicians using Twitter & tourists taking photos; the GDPR takes effect; lost Bitcoins
By: Aaron P. Rubin
Finding that President Trump’s Twitter feed constitutes a public forum, a federal judge in New York City held that it’s a First Amendment violation when the President or one of his assistants blocks a Twitter user from viewing or responding to one of the... ›Monkey-Selfie Case Returns—To Court & (Maybe) a Theater Near You
I confess: I have mixed emotions regarding the iconic “monkey-selfie” photo and all the hubbub it has created. Don’t get me wrong; I think monkeys are wonderful, and the photo deserves its iconic status. Who can resist smiling while viewing that famous image of... ›German Federal Court: Unfair Competition Law No Basis to Ban Ad Blocking and Whitelisting
A recent German Federal Court of Justice decision may have a significant impact on content providers’ business models. Offering software that allows users to block advertising does not constitute an unfair commercial practice. Even providing advertisers with the option to pay for showing certain... ›Socially Aware’s John Delaney Receives “Reader’s Choice” Award
We’re proud to announce that the online platform JD Supra has named Socially Aware co-founder and co-editor John Delaney as the recipient of one of its 2018 Readers’ Choice Awards. John was chosen from among the nearly 50,000 writers who publish on JD Supra... ›Social Links: Revenge porn victim awarded $6.4M; the discoverability of photos posted to Facebook; can users be blocked from government officials’ social media accounts?
By: Aaron P. Rubin
Based on copyright infringement, emotional distress and other claims, a federal district court in California awarded $6.4 million to a victim of revenge porn, the posting of explicit material without the subject’s consent. The judgment is believed to be one of the largest awards... ›The Coming Border Wars: U.S. Court Decision Refusing to Enforce Canadian Court Order Highlights the Growing Balkanization of the Internet
Does a search engine operator have to delist websites hosting, without authorization, your trade secret materials or other intellectual property? The answer may depend on where you sue—just ask Google. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California recently handed the company... ›