It has not been the practice on this blog to endorse candidates or even political views, with a few exceptions as to attempts at internet regulation that may be misguided. We make an exception on this page (i) because it involves a State Senate district in the heart of Silicon Valley in the California State…
The Battle to Free Raif Badawi with Brandon Silver LISTEN VIA THESE CHANNELS LINK LINK LINK LINK LINK LINK Raif Badawi is a 34-year old Saudi activist, blogger and creator of the website Free Saudi Liberals. His writings called for greater religious tolerance in Saudi Arabia which is dominated by Wahhabi Islamic fundamentalists. (See…
Virginia Court Orders Revealing Yelp Reviewers A Virginia appeals court ordered Yelp to reveal the identity of a reviewer of an Alexandria carpet cleaner where the business presented evidence to cast doubt that the reviewer was ever a customer. Generally, a Yelp review is entitled to First Amendment protection because it is aperson’s opinion about a…
Vietnam: “Empire Strikes Back” With Blogger Censorship Law Vietnam, which recently ranked 172nd out of 179 countries in the 2013 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index has implemented a new law which bans the sharing of news information on blogs sparking protests and global condemnation. The Vietnamese government view is that blogs instead should be only used…
I was the final part of a panel on Blogger Liability at RightOnline sponsored by Americans For Prosperity. Below are the Prezi slides .
PRESENTATION AT NEW MEDIA EXPO Last week, I presented at New Media Expo (formerly Blog World) which was held at the Rio Convention Center in Las Vegas amidst a rare winter chill and the first days of CES. It was a great show with lots of great speakers, exhibitors and attendees. I spent a fair…
SEGMENT 1: BLOG WORLD/NEW MEDIA EXPO PREVIEW WITH GORDON FIREMARK Next week is the New Media Expo in Las Vegas (formerly known as Blog World). I’ll be presenting on Blogger legal issues, as will entertainment and media law attorney Gordon Firemark. We’ll preview the upcoming show and discuss some of the latest developments in Blog…
We’ve taken great interest in Watson Meng’s Boxun blog that has made him China’s “Public Frenemy #1” and earned a spot among the Heroes in CLBR’s annual Heroes and Zeroes list. The blog has triggered a defamation lawsuit from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Memoirs of a Geisha actress Zhang Ziyi (represented by Glaser, Weil,…
AT&T Folds on FaceTime AT&T’s announcement that it would penalize users with unlimited data plans who use Apple’s FaceTime video-conferencing app by requiring that they purchase unlimited voice plans triggered swift condemnation. Matt Wood, policy director of Free Press, called this a clear violation of the FCC’s Net Neutrality Rules particularly as it is applied…
Featuring Popehat’s Ken White and DigitalLA’s Kevin Winston. NEWS Federal Court Opens ADA Floodgates to Streaming Video Content A Massachusetts federal judge has held that streaming video is subject to Americans with Disabilities Act in rejecting Neftlix motion to dismiss claim by National Association of Deaf that failing to close caption streaming video violates the…
Lawyers Behaving Badly Popehat’s Ken White sheds light on the strangest kerfuffle to hit the internet in some time. Round 1 June 2, 2012 Charles Carreon sends demand letter to Matthew Inman claiming false statement made is copyright infringement and requests $20,000. Round 2 June 11, 2012 Inman responds with challenge that he will raise…
The Proposal “In order for people to really know whether they can have faith and trust in the independence of recommendations they are receiving, they have to be aware” of any payments, she said. Currently, campaigns are required to report to the state any payments they make to Internet sites. But they can hide such…
A New York federal court dismissed former HuffPost bloggers’ amended complaint seeking a portion of the proceeds of the sale of Huffington Post to AOL The court explained: Quite simply, the plaintiffs offered a service and the defendants offered exposure in return, and the transaction occurred exactly as advertised. The defendants followed through on their end of the agreed-upon bargain. That the defendants ultimately profited more…
STATE OF THE BLOGOSPHERE 2011: DANGEROUSLY UNAWARE; FTC TO DISCUSS ON CYBER LAW & BUSINESS REPORT Technorati presented its 2011 State of the Blogosphere at the recent Blog World LA and some of its findings were surprising. Among bloggers working with brands in their content: * only 45 percent were aware of the 2009 FTC…
Cyber Report 