Internet Law

Class action claiming Yahoo intercepted email for advertising analysis gets OK from federal judge

A federal judge has given the green light to a class action alleging Yahoo Inc. invaded the privacy of non-Yahoo account holders by analyzing—for advertising purposes— email they sent to Yahoo Mail accounts. The suit says Yahoo violated the federal Stored Communications Act by searching the email for keywords that…

May 27, 2015 1:00 PM CDT

Fired workers increasingly add defamation claims to their lawsuits

Workers suing their former companies for wrongful termination and discrimination are increasingly adding defamation claims to their lawsuits. The defamation claim often alleges that companies gave false reasons for firing a worker, the Recorder (sub. req.) reports. One lawyer seeing more defamation claims in worker suits is Reed Smith partner…

May 27, 2015 6:15 AM CDT

IRS tax records for 100,000 people accessed by third parties who knew what personal info to plug in

The Internal Revenue Service has temporarily shut down a service that allowed individuals to access their own tax-return information for former years online. That’s because third parties who knew what personal information to plug in used the IRS webpage to access tax records for over 100,000 people between February and…

May 26, 2015 4:25 PM CDT

App records cop during drunken-driving stops, will call a lawyer if not shut off in 45 minutes

A fledgling smartphone application could put lawyers in contact with potential clients in drunken-driving cases almost before they are ticketed. Known as the Duey Dialer, it allows a driver to activate audio recording of a traffic stop at the touch of a button, developer Daniel Delgado tells KTVI. The app…

May 26, 2015 2:40 PM CDT

Sentencing judge should consider positive benefits of Silk Road’s drug marketplace, lawyers assert

Lawyers for the California man convicted of running the Silk Road website assert that their client deserves a lower sentence because of the operation’s positive effect on illegal drug sales. Lawyers for Ross Ulbricht claim in a federal court filing in Manhattan that Silk Road was “in many respects the…

May 21, 2015 8:26 AM CDT

Backpage wins dismissal of suit over escort ads said to facilitate child sex trafficking

Federal law protects Backpage.com in a suit by three women who allege ads on the website facilitated their sale for sex as children, a Boston federal judge has ruled. In a decision last Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Stearns said the Communications Decency Act protected the website for its…

May 21, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

Did passenger control plane by hacking into its computer? FBI probes Twitter claims

A cybersecurity consultant who claims he hacked onto airline computer systems while on board as a passenger and once briefly controlled a plane is being investigated by the FBI. Federal court documents say Twitter posts by Chris Roberts alerted the authorities to his claimed ability to hack into the onboard…

May 19, 2015 1:10 PM CDT

En banc 9th Circuit nixes earlier Google takedown order for ‘Innocence of Muslims’

Expressing sympathy for a movie actress “bamboozled” into appearing in an “anti-Islam polemic” that has incited death threats against her, a federal appeals court on Monday nonetheless reversed an earlier takedown order for the Innocence of Muslims. Requiring the film to be removed from all Google sites including YouTube is…

May 18, 2015 3:30 PM CDT

Rap video, tattoo photos on defendant’s Facebook page were admissible, 2nd Circuit says

A defendant convicted in a gang prosecution has lost a First Amendment appeal that contended prosecutors wrongly used a rap video and Facebook photos against him. The New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the rap video and images of tattoos did not violate free-speech rights because they…

May 12, 2015 1:42 PM CDT

Bill advances that would expand government surveillance powers in France

Lawmakers in France’s lower house of Parliament have approved an anti-terrorism bill that would expand government surveillance powers, including the ability to mine Internet data. The bill would require Internet and communications firms to record Internet metadata from all users in France, which would be analyzed for suspicious behavior, the…

May 5, 2015 11:53 AM CDT

Proposed legislation would allow companies to keep some data breaches secret

Proposed federal legislation would sometimes allow companies to keep quiet when hackers access their computer systems. The proposed law would require quick disclosure by companies if there is a risk of serious identity theft or fraud, the Wall Street Journal’s Risk & Compliance Journal (sub. req.). But there would be…

May 4, 2015 11:29 AM CDT

Split jury verdict for former Goldman Sachs programmer accused in code-theft case

A former programmer for Goldman Sachs didn’t dispute that he took computer trading code with him when he exited for a new job. However, while Sergey Aleynikov violated the bank’s confidentiality policy by doing so, he committed no crime, his lawyer, Kevin Marino told a New York state-court jury in…

May 1, 2015 11:55 AM CDT

Facebook posts get day care worker fired before job begins, add 12 days to paratrooper’s enlistment

Two recent stories illustrate yet again how social media posts can land employees in deep trouble with their employers. A single mom in Texas was happy to have a new job, but couldn’t resist posting on Facebook that “I absolutely hate working at day care.” That got Kaitlyn Walls fired…

Apr 29, 2015 3:14 PM CDT

Judge rebuked for posting on Facebook about trials she was overseeing says ethics panel got it wrong

At least one mistrial resulted because a Texas judge posted on her Facebook account about trials she was overseeing, a judicial ethics panel noted in its decision rebuking her for the practice. However, 405th District Judge Michelle Slaughter says she did nothing wrong by discussing the cases on her Facebook…

Apr 27, 2015 2:55 PM CDT

Man admits role in law firm scam; says he funneled $2.5M via 38 accounts last year

A Florida man has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering in federal court in Tampa, concerning his role in a scheme that scammed law firms. Muhammad Naji, 33, admitted in a court document filed last week that he funneled $2.5 million through 38 bank accounts last…

Apr 27, 2015 9:55 AM CDT