The Decline and Fall of the Section 230 Safe Harbor? -
2016 was 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...more
2/10/2017
/ Advertising ,
Communications Decency Act ,
Data Breach ,
Data Security ,
Email ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Geo-Blocking ,
Microsoft ,
Safe Harbors ,
Section 230 ,
Social Media ,
Stored Communications Act ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
Some industry observers are asking whether the post-inauguration tweets that President Trump is sending from his personal Twitter account may be subject to the same Presidential Records Act standards as official presidential...more
Every December and January you can count on the trade press and the mainstream media to run lists of predictions for the upcoming year and retrospectives on the year past ranking the “best” and “worst” of everything from...more
Last year we explained how companies could protect their social media currency and heed the FTC’s warning on native advertising. We examined court opinions establishing the criteria for enforceable website terms of use and...more
1/10/2017
/ Ad-Blockers ,
Communications Decency Act ,
Emoji ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Legal Ethics ,
Marketing ,
Native Advertising ,
Section 230 ,
Social Media ,
Terms of Use ,
Trolls ,
Websites
Over 30 workers at a Japanese insurance company are losing their jobs following the company’s adoption of IBM’s Watson Explorer, an artificial intelligence system that will perform an important back office function at the...more
The beginning of a new year is a time for resolutions and predictions. We won’t bother Socially Aware readers with our resolutions for 2017, but we thought that we would share some predictions for the new year from our...more
1/5/2017
/ Blockchain ,
Copyright ,
DMCA ,
EU ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FinTech ,
Infrastructure ,
Internet of Things ,
LabMD ,
Marketing ,
Patent Litigation ,
Section 230 ,
Social Media ,
Technology ,
Trump Administration
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 possible...more
“Yellow journalism” websites are using social media to capitalize on popular ideology. And they’re making a bundle.
New York City recently passed the country’s first law protecting the wages of “gig economy” workers. The...more
The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has filed suit to overturn a law that requires the popular entertainment website to remove the ages or birth dates of people in the entertainment industry upon request.
Vine might not...more
Commercializing user-Generated Content: Five risk reduction strategies -
We’re in the midst of a seismic shift in how companies interact with user-generated content (UGC).
For years, companies were happy simply to...more
Because it bases its assesments on job title, location and industry, LinkedIn’s new Salary feature might be more accurate than are other online compensation estimation tools....more
The Internet of Things is apparently to blame for the Web outage that paralyzed the online world earlier this month.
Justin Timberlake took down his “ballot selfie” from Instagram after Tennessee authorities made clear...more
Facebook at Work, the on-the-job version of the web’s most popular social media platform, will launch in London on October 10th.
Add iHeartRadio to the list of Internet radio platforms that will be offering an on demand...more
The California Supreme Court agreed to hear Yelp’s case arguing that requiring the company to remove a one-star review of a law firm “creates a gaping hole” in the immunity that shields internet service providers from suits...more
9/27/2016
/ Bots ,
Department of Transportation (DOT) ,
Driverless Cars ,
Enforcement Authority ,
Google ,
Hackers ,
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) ,
LinkedIn ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Safety Precautions ,
Snapchat ,
Social Media ,
Transparency ,
Trolls ,
Twitter ,
Websites ,
Yelp
Instagram now allows users to hide offensive comments posted to their feeds. Take that trolls!
Soon you’ll be able to watch Twitter content like NFL Thursday Night Football on a Twitter app on Apple TV, Xbox One and...more
9/21/2016
/ Ad-Blockers ,
Ballots ,
EU ,
Google ,
Instagram ,
Internet Streaming ,
Selfies ,
Snapchat ,
Social Media ,
Twitter ,
YouTube
Snapchat is on track to rake in an enormous amount of ad revenue by 2017.
Also, there’s mounting evidence that the company is working toward developing a Google Glass-like product.
We have written previously...more
Instagram now allows users to zoom in on photos in their feeds and at least 11 brands are already capitalizing on the new feature.
Pinterest acquired Instapaper, a tool that allows you to cache webpages for reading at a...more
9/6/2016
/ Advertising ,
Facebook ,
Instagram ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Funds ,
Investors ,
Journalism ,
Mobile Apps ,
Photographs ,
Pinterest ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Snapchat ,
Social Media
Google is cracking down on mobile pop-up ads by knocking down the search-result position of websites that use them.
The National Labor Relations Board decided a social media policy that Chipotle had in place for its...more
8/29/2016
/ Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Facebook ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Endorsement Guidelines ,
Google ,
Hate Speech ,
Instagram ,
Jury Selection ,
Kardashians ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Native Advertising ,
NLRB ,
Personal Data ,
Pop-Up Ads ,
Revenge Porn ,
Social Media ,
Truth in Advertising ,
Twitter ,
UK ,
Visa Waiver Program
Twitter took steps to remedy its harassment problem.
In addition, over the last six months, Twitter suspended 235,000 accounts that promoted terrorism....more
Facebook introduced technology that disables ad blockers used by people who visit the platform via desktop computers, but Adblock Plus has already foiled the platform’s efforts, at least for now....more
8/15/2016
/ Ad-Blockers ,
Amicus Briefs ,
Copyright ,
Facebook ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
LinkedIn ,
Mobile Apps ,
PETA ,
Snapchat ,
Social Media ,
Software ,
Twitter ,
Web Scraping
We have written before about website operators’ use of the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) to combat data scraping. We have also noted a number of recent cases in which courts held that social media platforms,...more
Instagram now allows celebrities to block trolls. The rest of us will have to continue trying to ignore Instagram trolls.
While Facebook reached new highs last quarter, Twitter continued to stumble. Will adding more live...more
8/1/2016
/ Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) ,
Defamation ,
Emoji ,
Facebook ,
Instagram ,
LinkedIn ,
Pinterest ,
Snapchat ,
Social Media ,
Trolls ,
Twitter ,
Yelp
Facebook Messenger joins the elite “one billion monthly users” club just four years after its release as a standalone app....more
7/25/2016
/ Criminal Prosecution ,
Distracted Driving ,
Evidence ,
Facebook ,
Mobile Apps ,
Revenge Porn ,
Snapchat ,
Social Media ,
Trial Court Orders ,
Trolls ,
Twitter ,
User-Generated Content ,
Video Games
The UK wants to use the blockchain to track the spending of welfare recipients.
Some believe that a recent Ninth Circuit holding could turn sharing passwords into a federal crime under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act....more
7/18/2016
/ Blockchain ,
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) ,
Facebook ,
Live Streaming ,
Mobile Apps ,
Patent Applications ,
Patents ,
Snapchat ,
Social Media ,
UK ,
Vine ,
Virtual Reality
Since our previous article on the emerging issue of trademark rights in hashtags, the use of hashtags in social media marketing has continued to grow. Described as the “ignition keys to a social media keyword search,”...more
7/18/2016
/ Advertising ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Hashtags ,
International Trademark Protection ,
Marketing ,
Popular ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Social Media ,
Trademark Application ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO ,
Young Lawyers