Without much public fanfare recently a Senate Committee unanimously approved the bill dubbed “Internet Kill Switch,” which among other things would allow the President to take over civilian networks in case of an emergency. The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee unanimously approved the Protecting Cyberspace as a…

Continue Reading President “Internet Kill Switch” – Good Idea?

President-Elect Obama’s Twitter account was hacked “offering his more than 150,000 followers a chance to win $500 in free gas.” Twitter settled the FTC’s charges that “that it deceived consumers and put their privacy at risk by failing to safeguard their personal information, marking the agency’s first such case against…

Continue Reading FTC Settlement – Twitter Barred for 20 Years From Misleading

Viacom lost its $1 billion lawsuit against Google and YouTube for alleged copyright infringement when a judge granted summary judgment. YouTube’s defense was that it used the “safe harbor” protection of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) where YouTube would remove allegedly infringing videos after being notified, and after three…

Continue Reading Google & YouTube Not Liable Copyright Infringement

The Ontario, CA Police Department (OPD) did not violate the 4th Amendment by reviewing text messages sent from a work pager. Apparently the OPD’s warrantless audit found Officer Quon had sent or received 456 messages, but only 57 were work-related. The OPD Computer Policy included the following provisions that the…

Continue Reading US Supreme Court Rules 9-0 – Employer Had Right to Text Messages

On Tuesday, June 15th I will speak on the “Social Media Impact on Law” at the Dallas Bar Association Franchise & Distribution Section meeting at noon at Belo Mansion. My speech will include the following topics:

• How Businesses Use Social Media – LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Yelp, Blogs
• Search Engines

…
Continue Reading Social Media Impact on the Law in Texas

On June 8th I attended Mashable and CNN’s conference about the intersection of digital media, news, and entertainment. Among other notable presentations was CNN’s medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Guptap’s (renowned neurosurgeon) interview of Mashable’s founder Pete Cashmore and CNN.com’s general manager KC Estenson. You can watch the video of the…

Continue Reading Mashable Media Summit 2010 – News and Politics

A Judge ruled that Facebook wall postings and MySpace comments may not be subpoenaed based on the 1986 Stored Communications Act which is the same statute before the US Supreme Court in Quon v. Arch Wireless. US District Judge Margaret Morrow’s May 26, 2010 37 page Order in Buckley …

Continue Reading Messages on Facebook & MySpace are Protected Information