Status Updates: People-rating app proves unpopular; new tech automates compelling-photo selection; Twitter 101 for the political class
- Bad reviews. On September 30th, the soon-to-be-launched app Peeple was described by the app’s co-founder, Julia Cordray, as a “ Yelp for people ,” that is, a people-rating platform that would allow users to assign number ratings to anyone—anyone at all, fellow Peeple user... ›
- - Privacy
ECJ Safe Harbor Opinion Has Implications for All Data Transfers Out of Europe
Yesterday the European Court of Justice (ECJ) followed the core of the Opinion of the Advocate General (AG) in Schrems v. Data Protection Commissioner (Case No. C-362/14). In sum, the ECJ held that: 1. Member State Data Protection Authorities (DPA) must be allowed to:... › Three Steps to Help Ensure the Enforceability of Your Website’s Terms of Use
By: Aaron P. Rubin
Operators of social media platforms and other websites typically manage their risks by imposing terms of use or terms of service for the sites. As we previously wrote , websites must implement such terms properly to ensure that they are enforceable. Specifically, users must... ›How UK Brands That Use Vlogger Endorsements & Social Media for Marketing Can Stay on the Right Side of the Law
Vloggers have become the reality stars of our times. For an increasing number of social media users, what was once a hobby is now a lucrative career. You may be surprised to learn that Felix Kjellberg (aka “PewDiePie”), a 25-year-old Swedish comedian and the... ›Status Updates: Court nixes VPPA claim; lawyer suspended over blog posts; Facebook ‘unfriending’ cited in bullying decision
By: Aaron P. Rubin
Tale of the tape. The Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), which requires video service providers to destroy personally identifiable information after a specified time, doesn’t provide a private right of action for plaintiffs whose information was retained beyond that period. So held the U.S.... ›FTC Continues Enforcing Ad Disclosure Obligations in New Media and Issues a Warning to Advertisers
By: Julie O'Neill
In December 2014, we noted that the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) settlement with advertising firm Deutsch LA, Inc. was a clear signal to companies that advertise through social media that they need to comply with the disclosure requirements of Section 5 of the FTC... ›Federal District Court Strikes Down Law That Bans Ballot Selfies
By: Aaron P. Rubin
The U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire recently struck down on First Amendment grounds a 2014 amendment to New Hampshire Revised Statute 659:35 that made it illegal for New Hampshire voters to post pictures of their completed ballots to social media.... ›- - Event
Your Votes Can Help Us Share Our Expertise at SXSW Interactive 2016!
By: Aaron P. Rubin
Our managing editors John Delaney and Aaron Rubin will be attending SXSW Interactive on March 11 th through 16 th , 2016. In connection with the event, John and Aaron have proposed two presentations based on topics that have been covered on this blog:... › The Top Social Media Platforms’ Efforts To Control Cyber-Harassment
By: Aaron P. Rubin
Social networking platforms have long faced the difficult task of balancing the desire to promote freedom of expression with the need to prevent abuse and harassment on their sites. One of social media’s greatest challenges is to make platforms safe enough so users are... ›Status Updates: Appeals court upholds anti-cyberbullying law; better marketing through neural networks; restaurant owner turns the tables on Yelp critic
Positive I.D. The tech world recently took a giant step forward in the quest to create computers that accurately mimic human sensory and thought processes, thanks to Fei-Fei Li and Andrej Karpathy of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. The pair developed a program that... ›