By IT-Lex Intern Nicole Sellers (LinkedIn)

We all know the pitfalls of using social media, especially for those in the public eye. Recently a NBA player learned just how deep those pitfalls run when he was sued for defamation as a result of a comment he posted on Twitter. Devin Ebanks, a forward on the Los Angeles Lakers, was the defendant in a case where a woman claimed that he allegedly raped her. After he was cleared of the rape charge, TMZ – the foremost authority on all things scandalous in the world of the celebrity – published an article entitled “L.A. Laker Devin Ebanks Cleared in Rape Investigation”. That same day, Ebanks found his way to Twitter to make a seemingly innocent comment on the matter. A friend named Junior, (who had introduced him to the woman who accused him of rape) tweeted “Glad you got cleared”, which then led Ebanks to respond, “Thanks bro next time u wanna hook me up, dnt lol”.

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Popehat last week reported about the saga of Scott Bloch. Mr. Bloch served as a United States Special Counsel during the Bush Administration, and was a senior figure at the Department of Justice. He pleaded guilty to, and is currently awaiting sentencing for, approving a “seven-layer wipe” on federal computers while at the U.S. Office of Special Counsel. That’s right, we’re talking Spoliation! And as if that wasn’t enough, Bloch is also contacting bloggers to have them remove all mentions of his case. Full details after the break… » Read the rest of this entry «

By IT-Lex Intern Joey Chindamo (LinkedIn)

It began like the classic Boy-Meets-Girl story—Dentist meets patient. Dentist treats patient. Dentist sues patient when patient complains about dentist via online review websites? Huh?

Today’s case is yet another example of a lawsuit prompted by negative Yelp reviews. We talked about the online directory service earlier this year when courts sided with Yelp when reviewed businesses complained, and again when the Virginia Supreme Court overturned an injunction that sought to erase a negative review. In all the cases we examined then, the law was consistent—like it or not, Yelp reviews were there to stay.

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Thanks to the Manti Te’o story, the concept of “catfishing” is probably familiar to most of our readers. If not, here’s the Urban Dictionary definition:

The phenomenon of internet predators that fabricate online identities and entire social circles to trick people into emotional/romantic relationships (over a long period of time).

Possible motivations: revenge, loneliness, curiosity, boredom

The term catfishing was inspired by the 2010 documentary “Catfish.”

Last month, a court in Indiana heard about a case that involved students at Ball State University, and a whole lot of cruelty. Read more after the break.

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By IT-Lex Intern Joey Chindamo (LinkedIn)

For eBay users, the Feedback Forum can be both a shield and a sword. Sellers who provide excellent customer service, ship items promptly, and communicate effectively with their customers know an outstanding feedback rating not only legitimizes their online stores but can be a boon for more business—most customers would rather buy from the seller with the 99 percent positive Detailed Seller Rating than the seller with the 50 percent positive rating.

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In Illinois v. Kucharski, the defendant was accused of logging into his ex-girlfriend’s Myspace account and posting several racy photographs and explicit messages about her on there. He was convicted, under state law, of identity theft, two counts of harassment through electronic communications, and unlawful use of encryption. He appealed, claiming that the statutes in question are unconstitutional, and that there was not sufficient evidence to support his criminal convictions.

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Here’s an interesting case with a not-at-all surprising outcome. The plaintiff, Jason Nieman, was involved in some litigation against a former employer, which eventually settled. From the opinion:

When Nieman encountered difficulty obtaining another insurance job, he suspected that potential employers had learned of his prior lawsuit online and “blacklisted” him from employment opportunities.

He asked Yahoo, Google, Microsoft and VersusLaw.com to “delink his his court cases from their online search results”, and after they all refused, he sued. The district court “dismissed the complaint because all of Nieman’s claims were premised on the defendants’ publication of judicial records available to the public, which is privileged under the First Amendment”, and just recently, the case made it to the Seventh Circuit.

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By IT-Lex Intern Joey Chindamo (LinkedIn)

Twitter is often described as a microblogging platform. Is Twitter, therefore, distinguishable from conventional blogs when it comes to reporters’ use of the service from the courtroom? A Massachusetts judge recently thought so.

Judge Peter Lauriat initially banned the use of Twitter from inside the courthouse during the first-degree murder trial of Nathaniel Fujita, a trial that garnered high-profile media attention. A jury convicted Fujita of first-degree murder on March 7.

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By IT-Lex Intern Joey Chindamo (LinkedIn)

In a case that could potentially make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Virginia Supreme Court recently ruled that a Virginia criminal defense attorney could continue to blog about his former clients without their permission, but he had to use a disclaimer.

Hunter v. Virginia State Bar pits attorney Horace Hunter against the Virginia State Bar. We covered this case last year when an intermediate appellate court made its ruling, but here’s a quick reminder. Hunter authors a blog that includes many posts about his favorable results for his clients, and none of those posts included a disclaimer, saying something like “These results do not mean that I’ll necessarily win YOUR case”. The Virginia State Bar ultimately disciplined Hunter on the grounds that he had violated a number of ethical rules and had disseminated information about former clients without their permission. The Bar admonished Hunter and required that he impose a disclaimer on his blog, and he appealed.

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Earlier this year, with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a resident of Salem, Missouri filed a complaint [PDF], alleging First Amendment violations. Here’s the problem:

Beginning in July 2010, Hunter conducted research at the Salem Public Library on indigenous American tribes and their spirituality. Many of the websites she attempted to access were blocked by the Internet filtering system employed by the Library because they were improperly categorized as the “occult” and “criminal skills.”

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