Category: INTERNET LAW

Facebook Teaming Up With Washington State AG Against Likejackers

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Internet Lawyer

At the end of January, 2012 news hit the wires that Facebook was involved in another lawsuit. But this time around, it wasn’t angry consumers or countries suing the technology firm, oh no, this time around, it was Facebook who was doing the suing. In conjunction with Washington State Attorney General, Rob McKenna, in late January 2012, Zuckerberg’s lawyer’s filed claims against Adscend Media. The accusations? Engaging in illegal “likejacking.” What is Likejacking? Like its predecessor, clickjacking, likejacking is the practice of getting someone to click on something ostensibly deceptive, which causes a different action than what the user thinks they’re initiating. Since Facebook has become the social networking mecca, many affiliate marketers use various techniques to market various products on the platform, including “likejacking,” which sometimes helps to augment the number of likes in a short period of time. ...

It’s Not the Size of the Privacy Policy That Matters, It’s The Language

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Internet Lawyer

So, you’ve started an online business and you’re not sure what kind of privacy policy you need. Can it be a free one you find online? Should it be filled with lots of legalese to make it sound more professional? How long does your privacy policy need to be? If these questions have been on your mind, you’re about to find out the answers from Aaron Kelly – an Internet law specialist who has helped hundreds of companies –both big and small – with their online contract needs. Q: Is it fine to just use a free online privacy policy I find on the Internet? A: Sure, it’s fine; but the real question is whether or not it’s smart to do so. If you don’t have a legal background, it’s not advisable to grab any ol’ free contract you find ...

Posted in Affiliate Marketing Law, Government Regulations, Internet Law | Tagged FTC, Internet Law, Internet Marketing Law, Online Privacy Laws, Website Policies | Leave a comment

ATTN Online Marketers: New FCC Text Message Advertising Laws Will Force A Change In The Way You Do Business

Posted on February 19, 2012 by Internet Lawyer

New Text Message Advertising Laws “Too many telemarketers, aided by auto-dialers and pre-recorded messages, have continued to call consumers who don’t want to hear from them,” began FCC Chairman, Julius Genachowski, upon announcing a new set of FCC marketing regulations set to be enacted this year. That’s right, last Wednesday, February 15, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced a whopper of a telemarketing rule change. The new statues will take affect after publication in the Federal Registrar, which usually takes between two to six months. Every online advertiser should run, not walk, to ensure they’re in compliance with these new text message advertising statutes, as the FCC does not mess around when it comes to initiating investigations. And if they find you guilty, you could be looking down the barrel of a quarter million dollar fine. So what are these ...

Posted in Affiliate Marketing Law, FTC News, Internet Law | Tagged Affiliate Marketing Law, FCC, FTC, Mobile Law, Online Privacy Laws, Website Policies | Leave a comment

Comparing DMCA and SOPA

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Internet Lawyer

SOPA is the big online copyright legal story of the year thus far. Which got me thinking about the good ‘ole Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) – the current work-horse of Internet intellectual property law. In this article we’ll briefly review each bill. So grab a cold one and settle in as we de-construct the various intellectual property laws currently in the news and try to make sense of it all in plain English. Comparing DMCA and SOPA: What the Heck is DMCA, Anyway? DMCA, for those of you who don’t obsessively follow the law, is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Thanks to anti-circumvention statues in the bill, the DMCA is the US copyright law that makes it illegal for you or I to manufacture devices or services meant to access or reproduce copyrighted material. It’s also the law that ...

Posted in Intellectual Property Law, Internet Law | Tagged BitTorrents, Censorship, DMCA, Domain Issues, Downloading, Google, Hacktivists, Intellectual Property Law, SOPA | Leave a comment

DMCA Definition: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act Explained

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Internet Lawyer

Lately, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) has stepped into the spotlight as a result of the ongoing SOPA and PIPA debates. Passed unanimously on October 12, 1998, the DMCA is the current law of the land when it comes to various online copyright legalities. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act amended Title 17 of the United States Code, extended copyright reach, established new anti-circumvention laws, limited the liability of online service providers (OSPs), and made boat hull designs a protected class. The bill was broken out into five sections — below is a summary of each. DMCA Title I: WIPO Phonograms Treaties Implementation Act The first section of the DMCA changed the law so U.S. Code complied with the WIPO Treaty. It’s the portion of the act that addresses various anti-circumvention statues. Anti-circumvention laws dictate what one can and cannot ...

Posted in Intellectual Property Law, Internet Law | Tagged Blogging, DMCA, Intellectual Property Law, SOPA | 2 Comments

Online Marketing Laws: What You Need To Know

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Internet Lawyer

Online Marketing Laws Introduction More than ever, it is imperative that businesses tread the line between successful marketing campaigns and misuse of marketing techniques that may border or cross into illegality. The best defense is to establish standards of online marketing well within the realm of the law — and familiarization with current online marketing laws is the first step. Online Marketing Laws: Terms of Use and Privacy Policy If you don’t have them already, get yourself a privacy policy and terms of service contract for your website ASAP. More and more people are suing (and winning) for various Internet privacy issues. The catch 22 is that when an entity collects data from consumers in the U.S., the standard is that the entity owns the data, or in more precise terms, “the right to store and utilize it.” Such a ...

Posted in Intellectual Property Law, Internet Law, Online Privacy Law | Tagged Affiliate Marketing Law, Blogging, COPPA, False Advertising, Intellectual Property Law, International Internet Law, Internet Marketing Law, Online Privacy Laws | Leave a comment

Google’s New Online Privacy Policy: Internet Lawyer Explains In Plain English

Posted on February 11, 2012 by Internet Lawyer

I’m sure you’ve heard by now that Google will be switching their online privacy policy in a matter of weeks – the Internet giant made sure that everyone knew about it. A massive public relations campaign to unveil their new plans began a couple of weeks ago, and the news was met with mixed reviews. Some felt the shift in policy was cause for online privacy legal concern, while others simply shrugged it off as an inevitable, and positive, change. There’s a lot of information floating in the ether about Google’s impending change, so let’s take a minute to break it down simply, and then you can decide for yourself how you feel about the modifications. Google’s New Privacy Policy: The Basics Google spokesperson, Alma Whitten – who is the companies Director of Privacy, Product and Engineering – summarized the ...

Posted in Internet Law | Tagged Facebook, Google, International Internet Law, Internet Law, Online Privacy Laws, Search Engine Legalities | Leave a comment

Online Reputation Management Company Accused of Hacking Websites to ‘Inject’ Illegal Code

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Internet Lawyer

Darren Meade, CEO of a California based company, is publicly alleging that renowned online reputation management company, Rexxfield, is engaging in illegal online activity. Rexxfield adamantly denies the claim. Online Reputation Management Accusations It all started back in 2010. Darren had retained the services of Michael Roberts, owner of Rexxfield, an Online Reputation Management (ORM) company. Rexxfield specializes in combating cyber bullies and online defamation by “going after” the offending users and websites. In some circles, Michael Roberts is known as an Internet Bounty Hunter — tracking down bad guys who post libelous material and shutting them down. But, Meade insists the hunter has gone rogue. And not in a Justified manner. Online Reputation Management Techniques For the uninitiated, tracking down users who post negative comments is a relatively simple and legal task using metadata, and Internet ‘artifacts’, but shutting ...

Posted in Internet Defamation Law, Internet Law | Tagged Online Reputation | Leave a comment

Twitter Threats and The Law

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Internet Lawyer

These days, Twitter threats are as commonplace as the Internet itself! And it’s an odd phenomenon too, since, unlike in most blog comment sections, many people use their real identities on the 140-character social networking platform. Perhaps Twitter’s frantic pace is to blame. After all, people do tend to tweet first and think later. And that’s all fine and well, but as an Internet lawyer, let me remind you that threatening people on Twitter can land you in some legal trouble with the FBI – and who needs them banging down their door? Twitter Threats: Legal or Illegal? Here’s the deal: any credible threat made by one person to another is illegal. And all it takes to trigger an FBI investigation is the fear of the person being threatened. For example, let’s say you’re having a back-and-forth Twitter war with ...

Posted in Internet Law | Tagged Free Speech, Internet Law, Online Stalking, Twitter | Leave a comment

Sued For Downloading? What You Should Do.

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Internet Lawyer

Have you been sued for downloading? Don’t mortgage your home just yet. There are legal avenues you can take that won’t break the bank. What? Keep reading. Even though much of the hype has died down over the thousands of people being sued for downloading and file sharing, recording artists and movie makers are still on the lookout for individuals and entities pirating their works and selling them for monetary gain. Fair enough. However, there are some people who take Internet swashbuckling to the extreme by offering their services to troll the Internet looking for websites that pirate, peddle, and profit from infringing on their clients’ copyrighted or trademarked works. These trolls, as many have come to find out, are after hefty sums of money — sometimes as much as $150,000 — for infringing on their clients’ copyright. In a ...

Posted in Intellectual Property Law, Internet Law | Tagged BitTorrents, Class Actions, Downloading, Intellectual Property Law, Internet Law | Leave a comment

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