On June 6, 2018, the Commercial Court of Vienna decided in favor of private broadcaster Puls4 and determined that YouTube qualified as directly liable for copyright infringing video uploads of its users. If maintained, the...more
Happy 2018 to our readers! It has become a Socially Aware tradition to start the New Year with some predictions from our editors and contributors. With smart contracts on the horizon, the Internet of Things and...more
1/6/2018
/ Blockchain ,
Communications Decency Act ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Cryptocurrency ,
EU ,
Fair Use ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Internet of Things ,
Online Advertisements ,
Patent Litigation ,
Privacy Policy ,
Safe Harbors ,
Smart Contracts ,
Token Sales ,
UK Brexit ,
Web Scraping
In 2016, brands spent $570 million on social influencer endorsements on Instagram alone. This recode article takes a looks at how much influencers with certain followings can command, and whether they’re worth the investment....more
9/25/2017
/ Advertising ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Endorsements ,
EU ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Endorsement Guidelines ,
Google ,
Influencers ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Instagram ,
Snapchat ,
Social Media
A defamation suit brought by one reality television star against another—and naming Discovery Communications as a defendant—could determine to what extent (if any) media companies may be held responsible for what their talent...more
8/9/2017
/ Alphabet Company ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Defamation ,
EU ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Free Speech ,
Google ,
Influencers ,
Marketing ,
Social Media ,
UK
The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that a North Carolina law that the state has used to prosecute more than 1,000 sex offenders for posting on social media is unconstitutional because it violates the First Amendment....more
6/26/2017
/ Certiorari ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Copyright ,
DMCA ,
EU ,
Facebook ,
Fair Use ,
First Amendment ,
Hate Speech ,
SCOTUS ,
Sex Offenders ,
Social Media ,
YouTube
The Decline and Fall of the Section 230 Safe Harbor? -
2016 was a tough year for a lot of reasons, most of which are outside the scope of this blog (though if you’d like to hear our thoughts about Bowie, Prince or...more
2/10/2017
/ Advertising ,
Communications Decency Act ,
Data Breach ,
Data Security ,
Email ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Geo-Blocking ,
Microsoft ,
Safe Harbors ,
Section 230 ,
Social Media ,
Stored Communications Act ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
A federal district court judge refused to grant summary judgment to the copyright owners of the Star Trek franchise in the infringement suit they brought against the team behind a fan-made, crowdfunded prequel to the original...more
1/23/2017
/ Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Ownership ,
EU ,
Instagram ,
Internet ,
Mobile Apps ,
Personal Data ,
Snapchat ,
Sponsored Ads ,
Star Trek ,
Summary Judgment ,
Yelp
The beginning of a new year is a time for resolutions and predictions. We won’t bother Socially Aware readers with our resolutions for 2017, but we thought that we would share some predictions for the new year from our...more
1/5/2017
/ Blockchain ,
Copyright ,
DMCA ,
EU ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FinTech ,
Infrastructure ,
Internet of Things ,
LabMD ,
Marketing ,
Patent Litigation ,
Section 230 ,
Social Media ,
Technology ,
Trump Administration
Instagram now allows users to hide offensive comments posted to their feeds. Take that trolls!
Soon you’ll be able to watch Twitter content like NFL Thursday Night Football on a Twitter app on Apple TV, Xbox One and...more
9/21/2016
/ Ad-Blockers ,
Ballots ,
EU ,
Google ,
Instagram ,
Internet Streaming ,
Selfies ,
Snapchat ,
Social Media ,
Twitter ,
YouTube
In a fascinating, must-read article, a Google design ethicist explains the techniques that engineers and entrepreneurs employ to keep us hooked on the web.
A majority of U.S. adults—62%—now get their news on social...more
6/3/2016
/ Barack Obama ,
Email ,
Emoji ,
EU ,
Facebook ,
Google ,
Hate Speech ,
Instagram ,
Prison ,
Russia ,
Social Media ,
Social Networks ,
Websites
How To Protect Your Company’s Social Media Currency -
Today’s companies compete not only for dollars but also for likes, followers, views, tweets, comments and shares. “Social currency,” as some researchers call it, is...more
4/29/2016
/ Clickwrap Agreements ,
Data Security ,
Digital Single Market ,
EU ,
EU-US Privacy Shield ,
Internet of Things ,
IP License ,
Online Reviews ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Social Media ,
US-EU Safe Harbor Framework
Welcome to the newest issue of Socially Aware, our Burton Award winning guide to the law and business of social media. In this edition, we offer tips for a successful—and legal—advertising campaign; we examine a New York...more
3/9/2016
/ Advertising ,
B2C ,
Big Data ,
Digital Goods ,
Discovery ,
Discovery Rule ,
EU ,
Facebook ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Internet Retailers ,
Marketing ,
Mobile Apps ,
Native Advertising ,
Social Media ,
Terms and Conditions ,
User-Generated Content
In This Issue:
- What’s in a Like?
- R.I.P.: The Facebook “Like” Gate
- Facebook Dislikes Fake Likes
- Privacy in the Cloud: A Legal Framework for Moving Personal Data to the Cloud
- Click...more
12/17/2014
/ Advertising ,
Clickwrap Agreements ,
Cloud Computing ,
COPPA ,
Counterfeiting ,
Data Protection ,
EU ,
Facebook ,
Infringement ,
Internet ,
Mobile Apps ,
Social Media ,
Terms of Use ,
UK ,
Websites
Search stripped? European regulators have several beefs with Google—the digital giant has been accused of tax avoidance and violations of data protection laws—but right now they’re focused on whether the company, which...more
..Your tax dollars at work: Wikipedia placed a 10-day ban on changes to the collaborative encyclopedia from a certain IP address inside the U.S. Capitol after discovering that bizarre and embarrassing edits were being made...more
In This Issue:
- European Court of Justice Strengthens the Right to Be Forgotten
- California AG Offers Best Practices for Do Not Track Disclosures; Crucial Compliance Questions Left Unanswered
- Snap...more
7/11/2014
/ Data Protection ,
Do Not Track ,
EU ,
European Court of Justice (ECJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Internet ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Privacy Policy ,
Right to Be Forgotten ,
Snapchat ,
Social Media