Socially Aware

November 22, 2016 - Online Reviews, Section 230 Safe Harbor
Yelp Case Shows CDA §230 Still Has Teeth
By: Aaron P. Rubin
2016 has been a challenging year for Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) and the website operators who depend on it for protection against liability stemming from user-generated content. An unusually large number of cases this year have resulted in decisions holding
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August 24, 2016 - Defamation, Online Reviews, Section 230 Safe Harbor
Controversial California Court Decision Significantly Narrows a Crucial Liability Safe Harbor for Website Operators
A recent California court decision involving Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) is creating considerable concern among social media companies and other website operators. As we’ve discussed in past blog posts, CDA Section 230 has played an essential role in the growth
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May 20, 2016 - Live streaming, Marketing, Privacy, Section 230 Safe Harbor, Litigation
Social Links—Twitter loosens up; case against Google stands; should millennials be in charge of big social media campaigns?
By: Aaron P. Rubin
Here’s how Twitter is loosening up its 140-character limit. The federal government will now check the social media history of prospective employees before granting them security clearance. One expert says C-level executives shouldn’t entrust millennials with their companies’ social media feeds. Federal court refuses
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March 22, 2016 - Digital Content, DMCA, Terms of Use, Marketing, Section 230 Safe Harbor, IP, Litigation
How to Protect Your Company’s Social Media Currency
By: Aaron P. Rubin
Today’s companies compete not only for dollars but also for likes, followers, views, tweets, comments and shares. “Social currency,” as some researchers call it , is becoming increasingly important and companies are investing heavily in building their social media fan bases. In some cases,
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August 27, 2015 - First Amendment, Status Updates, Cyberbullying, Marketing, Defamation, Section 230 Safe Harbor
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
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July 23, 2013 - Section 230 Safe Harbor, Litigation
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
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December 16, 2012 - Trademark, Section 230 Safe Harbor, IP, Litigation
Google AdWords Decision Highlights Contours of the CDA Section 230 Safe Harbor
In a string of cases against Google, approximately 20 separate plaintiffs have claimed that, through advertisements on its AdWords service, Google engaged in trademark infringement. These claims have been based on Google allowing its advertisers to use their competitors’ trademarks in Google-generated online advertisements.
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