In addition to being the world’s greatest communications medium, the Internet is one of the most effective conduits for fraud, illegality, and other mischief. Moreover, perpetrators, and the general public, tend to think that this kind of misconduct is uncatchable.
But Internet mischief may be more catchable than is generally assumed. And the tide of
Internet Law Twists & Turns
Latest from Internet Law Twists & Turns
FTC warns of penalties for false endorsements
As social media has been “blurring the lines,” the Federal Trade Commission decided to make one thing starkly clear: false endorsements, even through well-meaning consumer testimonials, are illegal.
The FTC sent out a “Notice of Penalty Offenses” to 700 large companies, advertising agencies, and retailers. The notice doesn’t accuse the recipients of specific wrongdoing,…
Disinformation report suggests major legal reforms
We’re suffering from “information disorder,” according to a report recently issued through the Aspen Institute. That’s not news. But how to solve this problem is the big issue, and the commission’s answer is that it will require substantial legal changes, as well as action by platforms, professionals, and academics.
Legal responses to our disinformation pandemic…
Lessons from a long-ago deepfakes prosecution
When deepfakes emerged on the Internet, people gasped at this new tool for deception and wondered how they could ever separate fake from real videos. After all, anyone who has seen the deepfake videos of Presidents Obama and Nixon knows that words can now be convincingly put into mouths that never uttered them.
But deepfakes…
Use of fake identities found deceitful in commercial email — why not elsewhere on the Internet?
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals recently had to decide a sensitive and difficult issue: Can you use a false identity to deceive someone when you are selling something by email? After careful deliberation, the court held that under the federal CAN-SPAM Act, such conduct was both criminal and deceitful.
Not a big deal. Deceit…
Amazon and U.S. IPR Center announce “Operation Fulfilled Action”
On November 24, 2020, the U.S. government’s National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center) and Amazon announced a joint effort to address counterfeit goods entering the U.S. In an effort to protect consumers, the operation will analyze data and conduct targeted inspections aimed at preventing counterfeit products from entering the U.S. supply chain. The…
Muting Misinformation: Resources for identifying and dealing with misinformation
We may be on our own in the world of internet misinformation, but we don’t lack resources. An expert industry is developing about misinformation, how to spot it and how to better understand the strange world of information on the internet.
Since we can’t rely on lawsuits, social media companies or imminent legal reforms…
Muting Misinformation: Only you can prevent the spread of political untruths
Political misinformation on the Internet is likely to continue, and our previous posts on laws, business practices and reforms have made it apparent that it is up to you, the Web User, to navigate truth and falsity on your own.
Yes, on the one side we have sophisticated campaign organizations, with professional copywriters, pollsters,…
Muting Misinformation: Can Congress legislate a solution?
Existing U.S. laws don’t prevent misinformation on the Internet, as we have seen, nor do social media companies keep it off their services on their own. The question naturally arises whether new Internet laws could change things. The trick would be to reconcile Internet technology (which allows anyone to publish anything worldwide), gatekeeping and…
Muting Misinformation: What’s the role of social media companies?
Can we rely on social media companies to vet and clean up their content, so that misinformation doesn’t pollute the 2020 political campaign? Having concluded in a previous post that lawsuits can’t effectively stop Internet misinformation, we turn to social media companies as the next logical guard in the fight against misinformation.
A lot of…