Business Law Internet & Privacy Law Committee

Most of us never would have imagined that there would come a day when we would flinch at the thought of touching a credit card machine or at the prospect of leaving the safety of our homes simply for groceries. Read more

The BLS’ Internet and Privacy Law Committee (“IPLC,” fka “Cyberspace Committee”) is pleased to announce that it has established a publishing partnership with Santa Clara University School of Law’s Privacy Law Initiative. Read more

Courtesy of CEB, we are bringing you selected legal developments in areas of California business law that are covered by CEB’s publications. This month’s feature is from the July 2020 update to Internet Law and Practice in California. References are to the book’s section numbers. The most significant legal developments since the last update include developments in such important topic areas as copyright, patent, domain names and trademark, independent contractor classification, social media, privacy, Internet advertising, and litigation issues. Read more

After California passed the landmark Consumer Privacy Act, tech executives began looking to Washington for a federal solution that might preempt the California law before it went into effect on January 1, 2020. Yet only recently have we seen any concerted push for action in Washington. Read more

The number of electronic device searches at U.S. ports of entry has increased significantly. Last year, Customs and Border Control (CBP) conducted more than 33,000 searches, almost four times the number from just three years prior. Read more

A recent amendment to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) requires that data brokers register annually with the Office of the California Attorney General. The AG now has a page to register on its website. Read more

Generally, under product liability law, the seller, distributor or manufacturer of a defective product can be liable strictly liable for an injury from a defective product. In Oberdorf v Amazon.com, Inc., 930 F.3d 136 (July 3, 2019), the Third Circuit has extended this principle to online marketplaces in a landmark ruling. Read more

Freedom House, an independent watchdog organization dedicated to the expansion of freedom and democracy around the world and publisher of the annual Freedom on the Net report, released a pessimistic 2019 report "Freedom on the Net 2019: The Crisis of Social Media". Read more

The Ninth Circuit recently decided Robles v. Domino’s Pizza, LLC, in which the Ninth Circuit ruled that imposing liability on Domino’s Pizza for its website under the Americans with Disabilities Act’s (ADA) accessibility requirements for public accommodation does not violate the website operator’s Fourteenth Amendment right to due process. The court expressly rejected Domino’s Pizza’s arguments, commonly asserted by defendants in similar ADA website accessibility cases around the country, that the lack of meaningful guidance from the Department of Justice for website accessibility requirements made the requirements impermissibly vague, and made enforcement of the ADA for websites a due process violation. Read more