Internet Law

Federal judge wants nearly 6,000 potentially fraudulent claims in app settlement to be investigated

A federal judge in San Francisco has asked prosecutors to investigate nearly 6,000 potentially fraudulent claims in a $5.3 million class action settlement. U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar acted on Tuesday in a case filed against Apple and some app makers after the claims administrator found 5,924 suspect claims that…

Jan 19, 2018 7:00 AM CST

Google app feature matching selfies to art is blocked in 2 states with strict biometrics laws

A new and popular feature on the Google Arts & Culture app isn’t available in Illinois and Texas because of strict laws on the collection of “face geometry” and other biometric data. The feature matches selfies to artwork in more than 1,200 museums, producing comparisons that are appearing in many…

Jan 17, 2018 2:59 PM CST

22 attorneys general file petition to block FCC decision repealing net neutrality

Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia have taken the first step in a bid to block the repeal of net neutrality rules. The 22 jurisdictions filed a petition for review on Tuesday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, according to a press release…

Jan 16, 2018 3:19 PM CST

The top 10 legal tech stories of 2017

What were the year's most important legal tech stories? Read ABA Journal legal affairs writer Jason Tashea's takes on how cybercrime to self-tracking devices to tweets had an impact on the law in 2017.

Dec 22, 2017 8:00 AM CST

Age-bias suit targets Facebook job ads displayed to younger people

A would-be class action lawsuit claims Amazon, T-Mobile and other major employers are violating federal age-bias law by placing ads on Facebook that are displayed only to younger people. The federal suit (PDF) was filed Wednesday in San Francisco on behalf of the Communications Workers of America and three recently…

Dec 21, 2017 10:45 AM CST

Drugmaker claims #killinnazis Instagram posts are part of lawyers’ ‘xenophobic’ strategy

Lawyers seeking to overturn a $27.8 million verdict against the makers of the blood thinner Xarelto contend that nine Instagram posts using the hashtag #killinnazis are part of a strategy by their opponents to link the defendants to Nazi Germany. In motions filed last week, lawyers for German-based Bayer and…

Dec 20, 2017 11:50 AM CST

FCC repeals net neutrality rules; at least 2 state AGs plan to challenge

At least two state attorneys general announced they will join a multistate lawsuit challenging Thursday's decision by the Federal Communications Commission to repeal net neutrality rules requiring internet providers to provide equal access to apps and websites.

Dec 14, 2017 1:43 PM CST

Trump’s tweets were too vague and subjective to be defamatory, appeals court says

An appeals court in New York has affirmed dismissal of a lawsuit that claimed Donald Trump defamed a guest television commentator in his tweets during the presidential campaign.

Dec 14, 2017 8:00 AM CST

Federal prosecutors drop charges against man accused of causing a journalist’s seizure with a tweet

Federal prosecutors have dropped cyberstalking charges against a Maryland man accused of causing a journalist’s seizure by sending him a tweet with an animated flashing strobe light. A federal magistrate judge in Dallas dismissed the charges against John Rayne Rivello at the request of federal prosecutors, Texas Lawbook (sub. req.)…

Nov 27, 2017 3:09 PM CST

Vegas lawyer is suspended partly for Facebook comments accusing judge of religious bias

The Nevada Supreme Court has suspended a Las Vegas lawyer for six months partly because he accused a judge of religious discrimination on Facebook.

Nov 22, 2017 11:03 AM CST

Justice Department reportedly considers charging Russian officials in DNC hacking

The U.S. Justice Department reportedly has evidence against six members of the Russian government allegedly involved in the computer hack of the Democratic National Committee.

Nov 2, 2017 8:59 AM CDT

Justice Department limits use of secrecy orders when accessing digital data

Microsoft is taking steps to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the government’s routine use of secrecy orders when accessing digital data after the Department of Justice agreed to change its practices. Microsoft announced the development in a press release that called the government’s new policy “a significant milestone in Microsoft’s fight…

Oct 24, 2017 10:40 AM CDT

Federal law doesn’t prevent release of dead man’s email to estate representatives, court rules

Federal law doesn’t prevent Yahoo from releasing a dead man’s emails to the personal representatives of his estate, according to the top court in Massachusetts. The Stored Communications Act doesn’t prevent release of the emails when the personal representatives consent to the disclosure, according to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.…

Oct 20, 2017 3:52 PM CDT

Supreme Court to decide whether prosecutors can obtain Microsoft emails stored on overseas server

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether federal prosecutors can obtain emails for a Microsoft customer stored on an overseas server.

Oct 16, 2017 11:04 AM CDT

SEC discloses hackers accessed EDGAR system and may have traded on the information

The Securities and Exchange Commission disclosed on Wednesday evening that its EDGAR corporate filing system was hacked in 2016. The hack of nonpublic information “may have provided the basis for illicit gain through trading,” the SEC said in a statement. The intrusion was detected in 2016 and the software vulnerability…

Sep 21, 2017 12:22 PM CDT