September 2nd 2008
Last week, a seemingly fake Facebook group called Aaron Sorkin & the Facebook Movie popped up. Though there was initial skepticism, New York Magazine confirmed that really was him, and yes, he’s writing a movie about Facebook. Reuters and The Christian Science Monitor have covered it. He’s asked visitors to share their experiences and story […]
August 21st 2008
A 23-year-old man who worked at a church in Wabash, Indiana, has been charged with felony stalking and misdemeanor harrassment. MSNBC all but convicts him in its coverage, and complains that because he hasn’t been charged with a sexual crime, his Internet use will not be restricted. Bad journalism aside, when he appears in court to answer these charges […]
August 20th 2008
Most of the time, students who go to court are objecting to punishment for stunts such as making fake Facebook profiles about their principal. In this case it is the principal, Anna Draker, who went after offensive students in court. Benjamin Schreiber and Ryan Todd, two 16-year-old Clark High School students, posted a false MySpace page […]
July 29th 2008
This week I participated in a the wrap-up panel discussion at Boston stop of the Online Marketing Summit. My co-panelists were Blake Coyle, a sales exec from Google, Paul Hyland, Executive Producer, edweek.org, and Theresa Regli, Principal, CMS Watch. As usual, I’m injecting personal observations along with what happened. If you were there too, please […]
June 18th 2008
Bain Capital has bought a 53 million stake in the social networking site LinkedIn. This would bring the total valuation for LinkedIn to just above $1 billion. Bain invests in and sell companies, so its involvement is an additional sign that LinkedIn may be headed toward a sale. So, why now? And does this raise potential privacy concerns?
May 23rd 2008
Prosecutors in Los Angeles have brought criminal charges against Lori Drew, the 44-year-old woman who was the focus of outrage around the tragic death of Megan Meier. Since there is no law against cyberbullying, the prosecutors construed that when Drew registered under a false name, she was essentially making unauthorized use of MySpace’s computer system […]
April 30th 2008
Word-of-mouth marketing, including blogging and using “brand ambassadors,” will face legal restrictions in the UK starting May 26, when seeding positive messages online without making the origin of the message clear becomes a criminal offense. Specific penalties haven’t been spelled out, so it will likely take a test case, reported to the Office of Fair Trading […]
April 14th 2008
This week, Alaska and Idaho passed laws that prohibit the state from taking measures to comply with the REAL ID act of 2005. That now makes nine states who refuse to participate in the new federal identity system, which is due to start operation in about a month. My friend and former state government colleague, Dazza […]
January 31st 2008
Do hard cases make bad laws? The law continues to grapple with the tragedy of Megan Meier, the 13-year-old girl who committed suicide after allegedly being harassed on MySpace by the parent of a friend posing as a teenage boy. Some localities have passed constitutionally questionable ordinances to make online conduct by an adult that […]
December 5th 2007
The Case: The tragic story of Megan Meier, a 13-year-old St. Louis-area girl who committed suicide after being harassed on MySpace, has grabbed national headlines and inspired thousands of web readers to participate in a collective sorting of legal and ethical issues surrounding the case. Meier met a 16-year-old named “Josh Evans” on MySpace. Her […]
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