Ninth Circuit: Yelp’s Practices Not Quite Extortion Yelp has emerged as one of the leaders among review sites, with 120 million monthly users (including 53 million mobile visitors) in 26 countries it moved into profitability last quarter. Throughout, Yelp has had it critics from the Travel Channel’s Andrew Zimmern who famously called Yelp* a “tremendous forum for a…
In Gunfight at the OK Corral, a U.S. Marshal from the prairie is called to Arizona to help his brother stand his ground against a band of cattle thieves. The character is an American archetype that is alive and well in the last untamed frontier – the internet. Ben Smith, District Attorney for Sac County,…
THE CASE OF THE BENGAL CHEERLEADER AT THE CYBER ZOO* Sarah Jones, a former high school teacher and Cincinnati Bengal cheerleader, sued TheDirty.com over two posts. In the first, site users (aka “The Dirty Army”) posted that Jones was seen with the Bengals kicker and “has . . . slept with every other Bengal Football player. This girl…
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…
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,…
HILL, RANDAZZA RETURN TO CLBR FOR YEAR END REVIEW CLBR’s year-end countdown begins with a special edition featuring the return of one of the internet’s top journalist along with one of its top newsmakers this Wednesday at 10AM PT/ 1 PM ET on WebmasterRadio.fm. Forbes’ “The Not-So Private Parts” Blogger Kashmir Hill returns to CLBR…
NOTE: Not on live broadcast because pre-recorded due to my schedule. CHRIS ABRAHAM – REPUTATION.COM Chris comes to Reputation.com from Abraham Harrison where he was a pioneer in online social networks and publishing, with a natural facility for anticipating the next big thing, As an Internet analyst, web strategy consultant and advisor to the industries’…
Cyber Report 