Socially Aware

May 08, 2020 - European Union, Influencer Marketing, Cyberbullying
Social Links: Online censorship in China; Florida legislation to thwart gang activity online; influencers criticized for breaking quarantine rules
By: Aaron P. Rubin
China’s “internet police,” who coordinate online censorship, have become especially busy since the coronavirus outbreak. Inspired by homicides that were precipitated by social media posts created by one group of teenagers to incite another, a Florida bill would allow law enforcement to charge juveniles
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May 04, 2020 - Terms of Use, Copyright, Litigation
S.D.N.Y.: Public Display of Embedded Instagram Photo Does Not Infringe Copyright
By: Aaron P. Rubin
A federal district court in New York held that a photographer failed to state a claim against digital-media website Mashable for copyright infringement of a photo that Mashable embedded on its website by using Instagram’s application programming interface (API). The decision turned on Instagram’s
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April 06, 2020 - Section 230 Safe Harbor, Litigation
Computer Service Providers Face Implied Limits on CDA Immunity
By: J. Alexander Lawrence
Often lauded as the most important law for online speech , Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) does not just protect popular websites like Facebook, YouTube and Google from defamation and other claims based on third-party content. It is also critically important
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March 26, 2020 - DMCA, Privacy, topics/undefined, Copyright, Section 230 Safe Harbor
Social Links: Biden’s stance on CDA §230; liability for user-generated content; Twitter’s process for reviewing Trump’s tweets
By: Anthony M. Ramirez
A federal district court in Illinois allowed claims for vicarious and direct copyright infringement to proceed against an employee of the Chicago Cubs Baseball Club for retweeting a third-party tweet containing the plaintiff’s copyrighted material. Read the opinion. Thinking of backing Biden in November? Would
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March 03, 2020 - Endorsement Guides, Data Security, Privacy
Fake News & Paid Reviews: FTC Seeks Comments on its Endorsement Guides
By: Julie O'Neill
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) appears to be using its ongoing review of current rules and guides to revisit its approach to driving home the message that the relationship between a social media “influencer” and the brand he or she is endorsing must be
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February 24, 2020 - Discovery, Litigation
Are Facebook Posts Discoverable? Application of the Forman Test in N.Y.
By: J. Alexander Lawrence
New York courts are increasingly ordering the production of social media posts in discovery, including personal messages and pictures, if they shed light on pending litigation. Nonetheless, courts remain cognizant of privacy concerns, requiring parties seeking social media discovery to avoid broad requests akin
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February 10, 2020 - Contracts, Web Scraping, Privacy, Copyright, Litigation
Clearview AI and the Legal Challenges Facing Facial Recognition Databases
By: J. Alexander Lawrence
Every day, social media users upload millions of images to their accounts; each day 350 million photos are uploaded to Facebook alone. Many social media websites make users’ information and images available to anyone with a web browser. The wealth of public information available
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February 05, 2020 - Web Scraping, Litigation
Combatting Unauthorized Webscraping
Socially Awar e contributors Alex Lawrence and Kristina Ehle authored an article for the Computer Law Review International that discusses the impact of the hiQ Labs v. LinkedIn decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which holds that automated scraping
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January 21, 2020 - Securities Law, Cybersecurity, IP
SEC Staff Issues Guidance on Technology, Data & IP Risks in International Operations
By: David M. Lynn
On December 19, 2019, the Staff of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance issued guidance outlining the Staff’s views about disclosure obligations that companies should consider with respect to technology, data and intellectual property risks that could arise when operations
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January 13, 2020 - Advertising, Influencer Marketing, Defamation, Section 230 Safe Harbor, COPPA
Social Links: YouTube bans some targeted ads; big changes afoot on Twitter; Facebook plans to remove ‘deep fakes’
By: Aaron P. Rubin
In a move that might be part of a settlement that YouTube has entered into with the Federal Trade Commission , the video-sharing site said it will ban “targeted” advertisements on videos likely to be watched by children. Because targeted ads rely on information
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Social Links: Online censorship in China; Florida legislation to thwart gang activity online; influencers criticized for breaking quarantine rules

By: Aaron P. Rubin

S.D.N.Y.: Public Display of Embedded Instagram Photo Does Not Infringe Copyright

By: Aaron P. Rubin

Computer Service Providers Face Implied Limits on CDA Immunity

By: J. Alexander Lawrence

Social Links: Biden’s stance on CDA §230; liability for user-generated content; Twitter’s process for reviewing Trump’s tweets

By: Anthony M. Ramirez

Fake News & Paid Reviews: FTC Seeks Comments on its Endorsement Guides

By: Julie O'Neill

Are Facebook Posts Discoverable? Application of the Forman Test in N.Y.

By: J. Alexander Lawrence

Clearview AI and the Legal Challenges Facing Facial Recognition Databases

By: J. Alexander Lawrence

Combatting Unauthorized Webscraping

SEC Staff Issues Guidance on Technology, Data & IP Risks in International Operations

By: David M. Lynn

Social Links: YouTube bans some targeted ads; big changes afoot on Twitter; Facebook plans to remove ‘deep fakes’

By: Aaron P. Rubin