Author Archives: Paul Levy

Internet Providers Have Standing to Protect Their Users’ Anonymity

by Paul Alan Levy This past spring, Twitter garnered significant attention, and widespread praise, for a lawsuit it brought against the Trump Administration this past spring to block enforcement of an administrative summons seeking to identify the owners of a Twitter account purporting to reflect criticisms by current employees in Customs and Border Control. The […]

Two new decisions support the right to speak anonymously

by Paul Alan Levy Two decisions were issued late yesterday in cases involving the procedures for adjudicating subpoenas seeking to identify anonymous Internet speakers who are accused of actionable speech. An appeals court in California embraced most elements of the Dendrite / Cahill test for deciding whether the plaintiff in such a case should be […]

Ninth Circuit poised to resolve major free speech issue in secret proceeding

by Paul Alan Levy The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has issued an order signed only by the Clerk declaring that a significant free speech issue bearing on the rights of anonymous Internet users will be decided in a totally secret proceeding, involving sealed briefs, a sealed record, and without any […]

Enabling Facebook Users to Protect Their Free Speech Rights

by Paul Alan Levy An important appeal is pending in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals – the highest appellate court in D.C. The federal government served D.C. warrants on Facebook, demanding access to the entirety of 90 days worth of communications in three separate Facebook accounts, including identifying information.  (Presumably, the reason why […]

Fake Litigation 2.0: Defrauding an Arizona Court to Sanitize Megan Welter’s Reputation

by Paul Alan Levy Ever since Eugene Volokh and I started writing last year about the phenomenon of “fake defamation litigation” — lawsuits filed to suppress online criticism while ensuring that the person whose speech is to be suppressed never has a chance to persuade the court not to issue an injunction — the greatest […]

Virginia Updates Its Anti-SLAPP Law, Stiffening the Standard for Many Libel Claims

by Paul Alan Levy With the signature of Governor Terry McAuliffe having been added last week, Virginia has adopted a modest improvement to its very narrow anti-SLAPP statute.   The new law, SB 1413,  is not nearly as strong as in the anti-SLAPP laws in California and other model states, but it has something that we […]

Trans-atlantic consumer forum convening in DC on March 21

by Paul Alan Levy The Trans-Atlantic Consumer Dialogue, a coalition of nearly 100 consumer organizations on both sides of the Atlantic, will be holding its annual meeting in DC from March 19 to March 21, including a public forum on March 21 addressed to "A consumer agenda for transatlantic markets.” The program includes features officials […]

i-Geniuses: Not Too Smart in Threatening Dissatisfied Customers

by Paul Alan Levy i-Geniuses is a Houston company that repairs Apple products; it especially touts its ability to repair computers suffering from liquid damage on a fast turnaround schedule.  A number of former customers have expressed concerns about the success of the repairs, about longer-than-advertised repair times, and especially about their believe that the […]