Socially Aware

December 20, 2017 - First Amendment, Artificial Intelligence, Cyberbullying, Disappearing Content, UK, Section 230 Safe Harbor, Free Speech
Social Links: Twitter’s tougher anti-hate-speech policy; tech-industry-friendlier version of bill to narrow the §230 safe harbor; 2017’s top posts
By: Aaron P. Rubin
In an effort to deter hate groups from tweeting sanitized versions of their messages, Twitter has began considering account holders’ off platform behavior when the platform evaluates whether potentially harmful tweets should be removed and account holders should be suspended or permanently banned. In
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November 28, 2017 - Blockchain, Cyberbullying, Privacy, Right To Be Forgotten, Section 230 Safe Harbor, Free Speech, Autonomous Vehicles
Social Links: Proposed legislation to outlaw “catfishing” & protect young Web users; blockchain technology’s impact on marketing
By: Aaron P. Rubin
The government in Indonesia has warned the world’s biggest social media providers that they risk being banned in that country if they don’t block pornography and other content deemed obscene. A member of the House of Lords has proposed an amendment to the U.K.’s
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September 06, 2017 - Blockchain, Cyberbullying, Marketing, Employment Law, Section 230 Safe Harbor, Ethics
Social Links: Bills that would take a bite out of §230; court opinion on social media & ethics; using evidence on social media to determine unemployment benefits eligibility
By: Aaron P. Rubin
A federal appeals court in Miami held that a judge needn’t necessarily recuse herself from a case being argued by a lawyer with whom the judge is merely Facebook “friends.” Bills in both houses of Congress propose amending Section 230 of the Communications Decency
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April 20, 2017 - DMCA, European Union, Marketing, Privacy, Copyright, Section 230 Safe Harbor, Mobile, Litigation
Now Available: The April Issue of Our Socially Aware Newsletter
By: Aaron P. Rubin
The latest issue of our Socially Aware newsletter is now available here. In this edition, we explore the threat to U.S. jobs posed by rapid advances in emerging technologies; we examine a Federal Trade Commission report on how companies engaging in cross-device tracking can stay on
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February 08, 2017 - Data Security, UK, Section 230 Safe Harbor, Compliance, Litigation
Now Available: The February Issue of Our Socially Aware Newsletter
By: Aaron P. Rubin
The latest issue of our Socially Aware newsletter is now available here. In this edition,we examine a spate of court decisions that appear to rein in the historically broad scope of the Communications Decency Act’s Section 230 safe harbor for website operators; we outline
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February 08, 2017 - Section 230 Safe Harbor, Litigation
Snapchat Clocks Section 230 Win in Speed Filter Case
By: Aaron P. Rubin
We have been monitoring a trend of cases narrowing the immunity provided to website operators under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA). A recent decision by a state court in Georgia, however, demonstrates that Section 230 continues to be applied expansively in
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December 15, 2016 - topics/undefined, Section 230 Safe Harbor
The Decline and Fall of Section 230?
By: Aaron P. Rubin
2016 has been a tough year for a lot of reasons, most of which are outside the scope of this blog (though if you’d like to hear our thoughts about Bowie, Prince or Leonard Cohen, feel free to drop us a line). But one
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December 05, 2016 - Online Reviews, Section 230 Safe Harbor, Litigation
In a Rough Year for CDA Section 230, Manchanda v. Google Provides Comfort to Website Operators
By: Aaron P. Rubin
As we noted in our recent post on the Ninth Circuit case Kimzey v. Yelp! Inc. , in the right circumstances, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) still provides robust protection against liability for website operators despite the unusually large number of
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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
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