Status Updates: People-rating app proves unpopular; new tech automates compelling-photo selection; Twitter 101 for the political class
- Bad reviews. On September 30th, the soon-to-be-launched app Peeple was described by the app’s co-founder, Julia Cordray, as a “ Yelp for people ,” that is, a people-rating platform that would allow users to assign number ratings to anyone—anyone at all, fellow Peeple user... ›
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... ›Status Updates: AZ’s anti-revenge-porn law scrapped; civil rights claim against blogging prosecutor dismissed; Match buys PlentyOfFish
By: Aaron P. Rubin
There oughta be a law? As we’ve reported previously, states all around the country have enacted laws that criminalize the posting of revenge porn—nude photographs published without the subject’s consent, often by an ex-lover seeking retribution. To avoid running afoul of the First Amendment,... ›Status Updates: Pinterest’s new purchasing feature; Driving while social; and a small country’s Facebook ban
Pin money. The social media site Pinterest, a 5-year-old Internet powerhouse with an $11 billion valuation , is implementing another feature intended to bring in some cash : Buyable Pins. Soon, the site’s users—who, according to demographics reports, are often affluent women—will be able... ›Status Updates: Artist sues Pinterest; texting for teens without data plans; quit smoking with social media
By: Aaron P. Rubin
Pin pain. As a primarily visual social media platform whose self-described purpose is to help users bookmark and save “ good stuff you find anywhere around the web ,” Pinterest has raised copyright infringement questions since it became explosively popular in 2012. In many... ›Status Updates: A Right To Be Forgotten Update; Errand Apps for Everyone?; Your Entire Google Search History
By: Aaron P. Rubin
Lest we forget. Established a year ago this month by a European Court of Justice decision , the right to be forgotten requires search engines like Google to comply with an individual’s request to remove “inadequate, irrelevant,” or “excessive” links that appear in search... ›Status Updates: Facebook Posts—Reliable Evidence?; Quora Post Costs Applicant a Job; a New Ephemeral Messaging App
Facebook: Fact or fiction? These days, courts are more and more frequently faced with disputes over whether, as part of the discovery process, a litigant should be entitled to view the opposing party’s social media posts. As we’ve discussed , some courts deciding physical... ›Status Updates
By: Aaron P. Rubin
Social discovery. Are the photos and status updates that you post to your social media accounts discoverable regardless of the privacy settings you choose? If they contain information that is especially relevant to the case, they probably are. Take, for example, two recent cases... ›Status Updates: Social media for minimalists; Pinterest’s plans; Super Bowl XLIX on social
By: Aaron P. Rubin
Social media for minimalists. These days, the information flooding the news feeds on some social media platforms can feel overwhelming and redundant. Take Twitter, for example—a medium whose popularity has resulted in a user experience that technology futurist Nova Spivack compares to “a crowded... ›