by Paul Alan Levy An important case about anonymous online speech is hurtling toward a decision in the Second Circuit. The situation is worrisome because defendants are so unsympathetic and the plaintiff’s legal claims seem to me very strong. The danger is that the trial judge’s dismissive treatment of the right to speak anonymously could […]
By David Lazarus at the LA Times here.
by Paul Alan Levy It’s been some time since I have had occasion to write about Mathew Higbee’s use of baseless threats of litigation seeking to wring undeserved dollars out of alleged copyright infringers. To be sure, many of his demand letters seek remedies for plainly infringing uses, even if his monetary demands tend toward […]
Law prof Elizabeth Earle Beske has written “Charting a Course Past Spokeo and TransUnion.” Here’s the abstract: The Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision in TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez has dramatically upended standing doctrine, apparently out of concern that any other move will invite congressional manipulation and give rise to even greater evils. The Court has done […]
Consumer Federation of America has announced that long-time consumer advocate Jack Gillis is retiring in January. Here is the press release: After 38 years with the Consumer Federation of America, long-time consumer and auto safety advocate, Jack Gillis, will be retiring as CFA’s Executive Director in January 2022. Gillis has been with CFA since 1983, […]
On October 21, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered six large technology companies that operate payments systems in the United States — Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Square, and PayPal — to provide information about certain of their business practices. The agency seeks the information to help it better understand how these companies use personal payments […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Department of Justice, in cooperation with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, have entered into a settlement to resolve allegations of redlining by Trustmark National Bank. The CFPB and DOJ allege that Trustmark discriminated against Black and Hispanic neighborhoods by deliberately not marketing, offering, or originating home […]
A recent report by the Federal Trade Commission staff shows that many internet service providers (ISPs) collect far more data about their customers than many consumers may expect — including access to their Internet traffic and real-time location data — while failing to offer consumers meaningful choices about how they may use the data. Focusing […]
Victoria Barnes of the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory has written Anne Fleming’s History of Law and Consumer Finance, 22 Enterprise & Society 316 (2021). Here's the abstract: This article has teased out Anne Flemings’s interests and the overarching themes in her research. It shows how these themes and interests influenced […]
by Paul Alan Levy In releasing documents electronically pursuant to a public records request, a local government body in New Jersey made a rookie error: using software (presumably Word) to perform redactions in a manner that was easily undone when the requester opened the provided PDF documents using his own device. The documents revealed some […]