Internet Law

Talking Heads Singer Sues Fla. Gov, Seeks $1M for Song Use in Attack Ad

A former lead singer for Talking Heads has sued Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, contending that he used the group’s 1985 “Road to Nowhere” song in an online attack ad against Marco Rubio without permission, reports the County Grind blog of the Broward-Palm Beach New Times. He is represented by attorney…

May 25, 2010 11:18 PM CDT

Pennsylvania AG Withdraws Subpoena for IDs of Two Twitter Critics

Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett has withdrawn a subpoena that sought the identities of two Twitter users who criticized his “Bonusgate” investigation of legislative corruption. Corbett, a candidate for governor, withdrew the subpoenas on Friday, just days after they became public in stories by Threat Level, Tech Crunch, PennLive.com and…

May 24, 2010 10:29 AM CDT

Co.‘s Effort to ID Web Critic Is Quashed; Posts Were ‘Hyperbolic Opinion,’ Says Fed’l Judge

A federal judge in San Francisco has quashed a subpoena seeking to force Yahoo to provide the Web address for an anonymous online critic of USA Technologies, saying that “Stokklerk” has a constitutional right to post “hyperbolic opinion” about the company anonymously on the Internet. Although the Pennsylvania-based company contends…

May 20, 2010 4:58 PM CDT

Google in Potential Showdown Over Wi-Fi Data Debacle; ‘No Harm, No Foul,’ Says CEO

Google is the subject of apparently conflicting global demands in a potential showdown over the giant Internet company’s admitted inadvertent collection of some 600 gigabytes of unsecured Wi-Fi data in recent years. Because of a programming error, the data was accidentally collected from millions of homes and businesses by vehicles…

May 19, 2010 12:21 AM CDT

Blago Lawyer: ‘He’s a Celebrity Idiot’; Judge: Juror IDs Secret Until After Trial

To reduce the potential pressure on jurors to consider Internet material sent to them by outsiders about Rod Blagojevich, a federal judge in Chicago today said that juror identities will be kept secret from the public until after the former Illinois governor’s upcoming corruption-in-office trial is completed. At this point,…

May 17, 2010 10:13 PM CDT

Google Admits Its Street View Cars Collected Personal Wi-Fi Data

For years, Google assured the world that its Street View cars weren’t violating anyone’s privacy as they took photos used for Internet maps that allow users to focus in on homes, vehicles and even individuals on the street. But now the search engine goliath is, in effect, admitting that it…

May 14, 2010 10:18 PM CDT

Nurse Who Encouraged Suicides in Online Chats Now Faces Criminal Charges

A Minnesota nurse accused of encouraging depressed people in online chats to commit suicide is facing criminal charges. The suspect, William Melchert-Dinkel, is accused of posing as a female who sometimes called herself Cami or Li Dao while befriending people online and encouraging them to let go, the New York…

May 14, 2010 1:36 PM CDT

Risk-Averse Lawyers Surf Net Into Stormy Ethical Seas

An Ohio lawyer is potentially poised to become one of the latest examples of lawyers taken to task for online misbehavior. Scott Pullins should be suspended indefinitely, an attorney disciplinary board has recommended, for abusing his position as a lawyer to pursue investigations against people who posted negative comments about…

May 13, 2010 10:50 PM CDT

RIAA Wins Big in LimeWire Case; Peer-to-Peer Site Induced Infringement, Judge Rules

A recording industry trade group has scored a significant victory in the battle against illegal downloading of copyrighted material, winning a summary judgment in federal court in New York yesterday against the LimeWire peer-to-peer file-sharing service. Lime Group and founder Mark Gorton committed copyright infringement, engaged in unfair competition and…

May 13, 2010 12:38 AM CDT

FCC Mulls Cell Phone ‘Bill Shock’ Regs as Family Fights $18K in Download Fees

Unexpected cell phone charges are a common problem—and, as a Massachusetts man found out, can suddenly ring up tabs of as much as $18,000 for unwary consumers. In Europe, though, the worst of the problem is routinely forestalled by text messages from mobile carriers notifying users that they are perhaps…

May 12, 2010 5:25 PM CDT

Twitter Rant Over Closed Airport Leads to Conviction

A British man training as an accountant has discovered the downside of Twitter. On Monday, Paul Chambers became the first man in the United Kingdom convicted for sending a menacing electronic communication on Twitter, according to the DailyRecord.co.uk, the Financial Times and True/Slant. Chambers, 26, was planning to visit his…

May 11, 2010 4:20 PM CDT

Ethics Officials Seeing More Cases from Lawyers’ Online Foibles

Lawyers who are more circumspect in person are making online mistakes that are landing them in trouble with ethics officials. James Grogan, chief counsel of the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, recalls an early case that got the attention of bar counsel in more than one state, the National…

May 11, 2010 2:57 PM CDT

Costly Surveillance Cameras Provide Little Benefit, Columnist Argues

The would-be car-bombing in New York City’s Times Square last weekend put surveillance cameras in the spotlight. And in that case—in which cameras provided shots of the suspect’s vehicle and an individual apparently unrelated to the bomb attempt taking off his shirt—as in many others, it isn’t clear what worthwhile…

May 6, 2010 6:33 PM CDT

‘Sexts’ Lead to Felony Child Porn Case Against High School Student, 17

A Texas teenager is now a defendant in a felony child-pornography case after allegedly persuading a 16-year-old classmate to send him a topless photo from her cell phone via text message. He then is accused of demanding a fully nude photo—and threatening to send the topless shot to others if…

May 5, 2010 7:17 PM CDT

Judge Takes Court Docket Offline to Prevent Jurors From Accessing It During Trial

Concerned that jurors might improperly access public information from the online court docket, an Oklahoma judge ordered it taken down for the duration of the trial in a medical malpractice case. But a mistrial still resulted, because the jurors could not agree on a verdict, reports the Tulsa World. Tulsa…

May 4, 2010 10:04 PM CDT