Blog
U.S.A. v. Iconix: A Website’s False Disclaimer that It Collects Personal Information from Children under Age 13 Can Lead to Doubled Penalties from the FTC
The FTC's recent settlement against soft goods marketer Iconix Brand Group, Inc. shows the hazards of trying to skirt the hassles of compliance with the Childrens' Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). 15 U.S.C. §§ 6501-6506. If your website privacy policy disclaims an intent to collect information from kids and asks...
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iMEGA v. Holder: Third Circuit Rejects Gaming Industry Group’s Constitutional Challenges to Federal Internet Gambling Law (UIGEA)
Internet gaming: On September 1, 2009, the 3rd Circuit handed down an opinion rejecting several facial challenges to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006 (31 U.S.C. § 5361). This decision was on a suit brought by the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association - iMEGA -- a...
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Employer Access of Employee Digital Communications and Federal Wiretap Laws: It’s Easier to Be Found Immune if the Communications Reside on Your Servers
Employers seeking to discover what their employees are doing and writing on the internet will can find themselves out of the reach of federal wiretap laws (under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act ["ECPA"] and the Stored Communications Act ["SCA"]) so long as they limit their efforts to intercepting and accessing...
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Recent Federal Court Ruling Would Make It Easy to Sue Foreign Website Operators in U.S. Courts
A recent ruling shows how easy it can be for a company that markets its services via a website to find itself a defendant in a United States federal court. In a trademark infringement case brought over competing claims to the "LifeAlert" trademark, a federal judge ruled on December 29,...
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Leahy, Kennedy Call Out Mukasey on Crack Fear-Mongering
The Senate Judiciary Committee has rejected Attorney General Mukasey's call to advance legislation undoing the Sentencing Commission's reform of federal sentencing guidelines around crack cocaine, the Los Angeles Times reports. Not only that, the LAT notes that Senator Patrick Leahy actually had the political cojones to call the AG's tactics...
Read MoreSteroids, Antidepressants and Puritanism: When Are You “Not You,” And Who Really Cares?
An article in the Dallas Morning News on teen steroid use caught my eye because of a quote from an athletic trainer who says: It's easy for someone to cheat and win. With steroids, you're tricking your body. You're creating something that's not you, and that's why you're cheating. It's...
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Ca. 2d: Rejection of Philip Morris’ Proposed Punitive Damages Instruction Was Error
Philip Morris will get another crack at reducing the punitive damages award in a long-running case brought by a cigarette smoker, as the Second District Court of Appeal found there had been improper rejection of the cigarette company's proposed instruction on those damages. The case is Bullock v. Philip Morris,...
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Indiana Cigarette Tax Produces Dramatic Drop in Cigarette Sales
Cigarette sales in Indiana have dropped almost 18 percent in the nine months following the imposition of a 44 cent-per-pack tax, the Chicago Tribune reports. To my mind, this fairly dramatic behavior modification based on a small economic tweak says some interesting things about our ability to control drug use...
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Free Robot Lawyer Created by 19-Year-Old Programmer Is Saving People A Lot of Money in Legal Fees
British programmer Joshua Browder is helping people save a lot of money on legal fees with his latest project – the world’s first robot lawyer. The 19-year-old developed a free service that allows users to ask any kind of legal question and receive relevant answers autogenerated by bots. Browder first...
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Global Obstacles for Tenofovir Tests
Tests intended to determine whether the drug tenofovir can prevent HIV from entering the body have hit a wave of global opposition, the Washington Post reports. Trials in Cambodia, have all been cancelled because of protests. The interesting thing, as the article makes clear, is that the tests might very well...
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