Court Finds Uniform Commercial Code Applies to Commoditized Software
Welcome to Socially Aware
Socially Aware is devoted to the law and business of social media, proactively addressing emerging issues and keeping our clients informed of new developments. We cover fields such as artificial intelligence, privacy and data security, Section 230, intellectual property, and much more.
- We’ve all seen the ads on the Internet—computer-optimization software designed to make your old PC operate like it’s brand new. Many consumers see these advertisements and, frustrated with the performance of their computers, purchase such software with the aim of speeding up their sluggish... ›
Whose @SunValley Is It?
Readers of our blog may remember Leonard Barshack as the co-founder of Bigfoot , a popular Internet mail forwarding service that launched in 1995. Barshack, a resident of Sun Valley, Idaho, recently became well-known once again for his role as plaintiff in Barshack v.... ›Bitcoin Receives Cease and Desist Order Evidencing Increased Regulatory Scrutiny of Virtual Currency
By: Rick Fischer
Article courtesy of Morrison & Foerster’s Mobile Payments Practice On May 30, 2013, the California Department of Financial Institutions (CADFI) issued a cease and desist letter to Bitcoin Foundation, a not-for-profit organization established to standardize, protect and promote the use and adoption of Bitcoin.... ›- - Privacy
Is Your Account Tweeting Without You Knowing It? Twitter Upgrades to Two-Factor Authentication
On April 15, 2013, the Associated Press’s Twitter account reported that President Obama had been injured in an explosion at the White House. Within seconds of the announcement, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted more than 150 points. Fortunately, the President’s Press Secretary quickly... › TheDirty.com Goes to Trial
In 2012, we reported on a pair of district court decisions that, based on similar facts, split on whether defendant TheDirty.com, a gossip website, qualified for immunity under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), the 1996 law that states “[n]o provider or... ›Private Funds on Social Media—Proceed with Caution
When the Securities and Exchange Commission lifted the ban on general solicitation and general advertising for private offerings of securities, can marketing blitzes on Twitter and other social media sites be far behind? It is not likely that we will see hedge funds aggressively... ›- - Privacy
Youthful Indiscretions: California Bills Poised to Regulate Use of Minors’ Data on Social Networks
Two bills designed to facilitate the removal of minors’ personal information from social networking sites are currently under consideration in the California State Assembly, after being approved in the upper house of the state’s legislature, the Senate, in early 2013. The first of the... › Protecting Your Trademarks as ICANN Launches New Generic Top Level Domains
Last year, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) received over 1,900 applications for new generic top-level domains (gTLDs), including multiple applications for popular domains like .app, .inc, .art, .shop and .music. More than seven hundred applications have now passed an initial... ›FINRA Issues Sweep Letter Regarding Use of Social Media
FINRA, having enacted new communications rules that specifically reference electronic communications, having issued two Regulatory Notices (linked here and here ) providing guidance to the securities industry on social media, and having made social media and electronic communications exam priorities in two of the... ›German Court Holds Google Responsible for Its Search Suggestions
By: Alja Poler De Zwart
On May 15, 2013, in a case filed against Google by an entrepreneur selling dietary supplements and cosmetics (the “Plaintiff”), the German Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe ( Bundesgerichtshof , the “Federal Court”) ruled that Google must remove any defamatory suggestions generated by... ›