Cyberspace Law

Subscribe to Cyberspace Law via RSS

By Jeff Pietsch

Earlier this month, a California district court certified a class on behalf of blind internet users against Target.com under the American Disabilities Act and California law. National Federation of the Blind v. Target Corp. (N.D. Cal. Sept. 28, 2007). The class claims that the Target.com website is inaccessible to the blind and therefore violates federal and state laws prohibiting discrimination against the disabled. This ruling should give notice to website owners that websites, especially those available in California, should be made to be accessible to the blind.Continue Reading Blind Internet Users Victorious in Discrimination Action Against Website

By Scott Hervey

It’s not uncommon for companies to change or modify the terms under which they provide services to consumers. This is true whether the company is a traditional brick and mortar company or Internet based.   When traditional companies make a change to service terms they usually send some type of written notice to the consumer. But for some reason this never caught on for Internet based companies. Often the Internet based Company would merely make changes to its terms of use (the contract which governs the consumers’ use of the relevant website and its services) and post the revised terms of use on its website.  In most instances, unless the user reviewed the terms of use frequently and compared the current version to the version that was posted at the time the consumer became a user of the site, the user would be unaware of any changes.Continue Reading Ninth Circuit Holds Modified Terms of Use Unenforceable Where User Not Properly Notified of the Changes

By Jeff Pietsch

On May 15, 2007, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals created a significant exception to the immunity granted to a website operator under 47 U.S.C. § 230 “The Communications Decency Act” (“CDA”). The court held that Roommate.com can be held liable for publishing content from member questionnaires created by using drop-down menus and distributing member profiles, but is immune from liability for publishing users’ responses to open-ended fields or questions. (Fair Housing Council of San Fernando Valley v. Roommate.com, LLC, 2007 WL 1412650 (9th Cir.). With this recent ruling, website operators will need to determine when the protection provided by the CDA for Internet services applies to its site.Continue Reading Interactive Websites May Lose Protection Under the Communications Decency Act

By Scott Hervey

The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York rules that the downloading of a digital music file embodying a particular song does not constitute a "public performance" of that song within the meaning of the Copyright Act.  Thus, on-line music retailers need not negotiate a license with performance…

By James Kachmar

On March 29, 2007, the Ninth Circuit issued its opinion in the case Perfect 10, Inc. v. CCBill LLC, et al. in which it attempted to clarify when immunity is available to internet service providers for copyright infringement under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“the DMCA”), 17 U.S.C §512. Perfect 10, the publisher of an adult magazine and a related subscription website, brought a lawsuit claiming that CCBill and CWIE violated copyright laws by providing services to other websites that posted images stolen from Perfect 10’s magazine and website. CWIE provides web hosting and related internet connectivity services to the owners of various websites. CCBill allows customers to use credit cards or checks to pay for subscriptions or memberships to various websites. The U.S. District Court granted summary judgment in favor of CCBill and CWIE as to the copyright claims finding that they qualified for the “safe harbor” provisions from copyright infringement liability under the DMCA. Continue Reading The Ninth Circuit Clarifies the “Safe Harbor” Provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act