Socially Aware

June 18, 2012 - Copyright, Discovery, Litigation
What, What (In the Court): South Park Studios Shielded by Fair Use for Viral Video Parody
The Seventh Circuit held recently in Brownmark Films, LLC v. Comedy Partners that, under certain circumstances, a trial court may dismiss a copyright infringement case based on a fair use defense prior to discovery. Over the years, the satiric Comedy Central cartoon program South
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June 13, 2012 - E-Personation, Litigation
Tracking the Trolls: A “Twitter Jitters” Update
By: Alistair Maughan
We reported this past May in our Socially Aware blog about efforts of law enforcement authorities in the United Kingdom to adapt existing laws to police potential offenses committed via social media. The UK government has just announced proposals that will make it easier to
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June 08, 2012 - Terms of Use, Litigation
Computer Crime Prosecutions Face New Difficulties
In two recent decisions issued within a day of each other, two influential federal courts limited the scope of three important federal laws used to prosecute criminal conduct involving computers. On April 10, 2012, the Ninth Circuit limited the scope of criminal liability for
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June 04, 2012 - Privacy, Employment Law, Litigation
Interview with Debbie Rosenbaum regarding Bland v. Roberts
As a result of her recent Socially Aware blog post What’s Not to Like , our contributor Debbie Rosenbaum has been interviewed by LXBN TV regarding Bland v. Roberts , the recent (and controversial) federal court decision holding that “liking” a Facebook page does
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May 30, 2012 - Ethics, Litigation
Should We All Be Getting the Twitter “Jitters”? Be Careful What You Say Online (Particularly in the United Kingdom)
By: Alistair Maughan
History is littered with examples of the law being slow to catch up with the use of technology. Social media is no exception. As our Socially Aware blog attests, countries around the world are having to think fast to apply legal norms to rapidly
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May 21, 2012 - Privacy, Employment Law, Litigation
What’s Not to Like?
A recent district court decision highlights the growing prevalence of issues relating to new media technologies arising in the courtroom. In Bland v. Roberts , the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia held that merely “liking” a Facebook page is insufficient
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May 18, 2012 - Privacy, Litigation
New York Court to Criminal Defendant: Your Tweets May Be Used Against You
By: J. Alexander Lawrence
In past Socially Aware posts, we have discussed using subpoenas in civil litigation to obtain evidence from social media sites, including whether individuals have a privacy interest in this information and how the Stored Communications Act may limit the use of subpoenas in civil
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April 26, 2012 - Privacy, Ethics, Litigation
A Dirty Job: TheDirty.com Cases Show the Limits of CDA Section 230
We’ve reported before on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), the 1996 statute that states, “[n]o provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.” Courts
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January 06, 2012 - Privacy, Discovery, Litigation
Standard for Discovery of Anonymous Internet Users’ Identities Remains in Flux
Plenty of press attention has been given to social media sites’ views on whether their users can use “handles” or pseudonyms instead of their real names. But much of the Internet’s social conversation remains dependent upon that dot-com staple, the anonymous message board. In
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Topic Archives: Litigation

What, What (In the Court): South Park Studios Shielded by Fair Use for Viral Video Parody

Tracking the Trolls: A “Twitter Jitters” Update

By: Alistair Maughan

Computer Crime Prosecutions Face New Difficulties

Interview with Debbie Rosenbaum regarding Bland v. Roberts

Should We All Be Getting the Twitter “Jitters”? Be Careful What You Say Online (Particularly in the United Kingdom)

By: Alistair Maughan

What’s Not to Like?

New York Court to Criminal Defendant: Your Tweets May Be Used Against You

By: J. Alexander Lawrence

A Dirty Job: TheDirty.com Cases Show the Limits of CDA Section 230

Standard for Discovery of Anonymous Internet Users’ Identities Remains in Flux