(cross posted at the Citizen Media Law Project)
The Federal Trade Commission has announced that it has completed its first investigation under the "blog-ola" rules it adopted last year, which require bloggers and other social media posters who receive a free or discounted product or service to disclose the freebie in their reviews or commentary about the product or service, or face the possibility of an FTC enforcement action. See "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising," 16 CFR Part 255 (2010) (html) (pdf).
Apr 30, 2010
Apr 27, 2010
Search Warrants in the Sky: FBI Collects Info from Google Docs
cross posted at the Citizen Media Law Project)
If you spend any time at all online, you've probably seen—and, depending on the effectiveness of your spam filters, received in your email—ads extolling the supposed virtues of acai berry, a so-called "super food" that has been a big seller for the past couple of years. (This despite the fact that, according to the Mayo Clinic and Web MD, the benefits of acai berry—other than, like other berries, as a source of generally beneficial antioxidants—are uncertain.)
Wired recently reported on a search warrant the FBI served on Google last year to retrieve documents stored on the Google Docs "cloud" word-processing service, in an investigation of a company named Pulse Marketing. The company allegedly sent millions of spam emails promoting and offering to sell acai berry, and had established a system to create multiple Yahoo and Gmail email addresses to send the spam. The search warrant came to light when the FBI applied for a search warrant to examine the Yahoo email accounts.
If you spend any time at all online, you've probably seen—and, depending on the effectiveness of your spam filters, received in your email—ads extolling the supposed virtues of acai berry, a so-called "super food" that has been a big seller for the past couple of years. (This despite the fact that, according to the Mayo Clinic and Web MD, the benefits of acai berry—other than, like other berries, as a source of generally beneficial antioxidants—are uncertain.)
Wired recently reported on a search warrant the FBI served on Google last year to retrieve documents stored on the Google Docs "cloud" word-processing service, in an investigation of a company named Pulse Marketing. The company allegedly sent millions of spam emails promoting and offering to sell acai berry, and had established a system to create multiple Yahoo and Gmail email addresses to send the spam. The search warrant came to light when the FBI applied for a search warrant to examine the Yahoo email accounts.
Apr 24, 2010
Dealing with Foreign Legal Threats
cross posted at the Citizen Media Law Project)
Online publishers should realize that Internet content is available worldwide, and may lead to legal problems outside the United States. While this tends to primarily be an issue for big companies (with deep pockets), it's still a matter of concern for small organizations and even individuals, as illustrated by the French prosecution of an NYU law professor in 2010 for hosting an allegedly defamatory book review.
Online publishers should realize that Internet content is available worldwide, and may lead to legal problems outside the United States. While this tends to primarily be an issue for big companies (with deep pockets), it's still a matter of concern for small organizations and even individuals, as illustrated by the French prosecution of an NYU law professor in 2010 for hosting an allegedly defamatory book review.
Apr 3, 2010
New Jersey Federal Judge Finds No Defamation in Homosexuality
(cross posted at the Citizen Media Law Project)
On March 29, 2010, U.S. District Judge Joel Pisano of the federal court for New Jersey dismissed a defamation claim brought by freelance photographer Peter Murphy against two radio "shock jocks" who alleged that was homosexual. Murphy v. Millennium Radio, Civil No. 08-1743 (D. N.J. 2010).
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