Balough
December 7, 2013
The Federal Communications Commission exceeded its authority when it issued rules requiring digital television receivers and other devices to contain technology that prohibited the redistribution of the broadcast. The technology is known as the broadcast flag. It is a digital code embedded in a DTV broadcast stream that prevents digital television reception equipment from redistributing […]
Balough
December 7, 2013
A crude and offensive letter from a prisoner to President Bush endorsing the actions of Bin Laden is protected speech, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. The letter from a prison in the Oregon State Penitentiary contained the sentence “You Will Die too George W Bush real Soon They Promissed [sic] That you […]
Balough
December 7, 2013
A Georgia statute that criminalized telephone calls that were indecent, lewd, lascivious and filthy as well as obscene has been declared unconstitutional by that state’s supreme court. In McKenzie v. State, McKenzie was convicted of violating the statute for making a telephone call to a 14-year old girl while he was in prison. McKenzie was […]
Balough
December 7, 2013
Your cheating heart may tell on you, but the spyware on the computer that captures the cheating in real time may not be admissible in court. A Florida appeals court found that spyware installed on a cheating husband’s computer by his wife resulted in an illegal intercept of communications in violation of a state law […]
Balough
December 7, 2013
A junk fax sender is not entitled to have its insurance company defend or indemnify when the sender is sued for sending unsolicited faxes. The sender, Capital Associates of Jackson County, Inc., was insured by American States Insurance Company. The policy covered “advertising injury.” Capital Associates was sued by JC Hauling Company as a class-representative when […]
Balough
December 7, 2013
Normally, the discovery rule allows the statute of limitations to start to run when a person knows or should have known of the injury. However, in a case in New York, a man was allowed to be added as a plaintiff three years after the statute of limitations had run because he never told his […]
Balough
December 7, 2013
Both the subject line and the content of the message will determine whether an electronic message is a commercial e-mail subject to regulation under the CAN-SPAM Act under rules adopted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC has issued its final regulations that determine how to determine the “primary purpose” of an electronic message. […]
Balough
December 7, 2013
When you post your website privacy policies, you better abide by them. That lesson was learned anew when the Federal Trade Commission and Petco Animal Supplies, Inc. entered into a consent decree over charges that Petco violated its posted privacy policy. Petco sells pet and food supplies to customers at www.PETCO.com. On the website, the […]
Balough
December 7, 2013
For those convicted of a crime, there is no privacy regardless of how long ago the crime was committed. The California Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit for invasion of privacy against Discovery Communications, Inc. brought after the production and broadcast in 2001 of a television show depicting the plaintiff as an accessory to a murder […]
Balough
December 7, 2013
If your car’s on-board emergency assistance system doesn’t work when you need roadside assistance, maybe you should call the FBI. That’s because up until a recent court decision barring the practice, the FBI has been able to obtain warrants to listen in on in-car conversations through the roadside assistance devices installed in luxury cars. The […]
