These days, some of tech’s most important decisions are being made inside courtrooms. Google and Facebook are fending off antitrust accusations, while patent suits determine how much control of their own products they can have. The slow fight over Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act threatens platforms like Twitter and YouTube with untold liability suits for the content they host. Gig economy companies like Uber and Airbnb are fighting for their very existence as their workers push for the protections of full-time employees. In each case, judges and juries are setting the rules about exactly how far tech companies can push the envelope and exactly how much protection everyday people have. This is where we keep track of those legal fights and the broader principles behind them. When you move fast and break things, it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise when you end up in court.
Open source developers dismissed OpenAI from their 2022 lawsuit alleging that it violated copyright law by reproducing their code without attribution.
As Bloomberg Law writes, the lawsuit will continue against GitHub and Microsoft (although without the Digital Millennium Copyright Act claims that the judge dismissed this month).
A CNN investigation found that Airbnb routinely ignores or silences, through settlements and NDAs, guests who find hidden cameras in their rentals’ bedrooms and bathrooms.
In one case, Airbnb told guests who found a camera pointed at their bed it wanted to get the host’s side of the story. It allowed him to continue hosting for months, even after being told he was under police investigation. Police eventually raided his property:
Among the more than 2,000 recovered images, law enforcement identified more than 30 victims, including several children. Many guests – who booked the same property either through Airbnb or Vrbo – were captured in various stages of undress. Some were recorded having sex.
Update: Altered the text for clarity.
Two former execs of a German AI data center company, Northern Data, say they were fired for raising concerns the company was “misrepresenting the strength of its financial condition,” in a wrongful termination lawsuit. Northern Data, which is backed by Tether, has been looking into an IPO in the US.
A look at the era of the non-disclosure agreement, subject of pop songs and nearly as common as water in Silicon Valley. Paradoxically, though, being as loud as possible makes it harder for the likes of Jeff Bezos to come after you.
Supreme Court protects the future of content moderation
The NetChoice decision means curating, compiling, and moderating a feed is a First Amendment-protected activity.
If you owned an iPhone 7 or 7 Plus between September 16th, 2016 and January 3rd, 2023 and met certain requirements, you may be eligible to claim part of a settlement after a class action lawsuit over issues with the Apple devices’ microphones.
The deadline was originally June 3rd, 2024, but it was extended earlier this month to July 3rd instead.
What SCOTUS just did to broadband, the right to repair, the environment, and more
From net neutrality to H-1B tech workers to cellphone unlocking, much of tech policy revolves around the administrative state.
A draft opinion for Moyle v. US — a still-undecided abortion case — was briefly published to the Supreme Court website today. According to Bloomberg, the draft would allow emergency abortions in Idaho.
The court is behind schedule with ten decisions left to go, including the NetChoice cases.
The Department of Justice announced that, as expected, the WikiLeaks founder entered a guilty plea today in the U.S. District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands.
At today’s proceeding, Assange admitted to his role in the conspiracy to violate the Espionage Act and received a court-imposed 62-month time-served sentence, reflecting the time he served in U.K. prison as a result of the U.S. charges. Following the imposition of sentence, he will depart the United States for his native Australia. Pursuant to the plea agreement, Assange is prohibited from returning to the United States without permission.
Reuters reports that executives are concerned shipments of their new AI-powered laptops could be halted if Arm wins the two-year legal battle against Qualcomm. The trial is scheduled to begin in December, but only if they can’t agree to licensing terms first.
As D2D Advisory CEO Jay Goldberg noted to the publication:
“There is a degree of absurdity of Arm suing its second-biggest customer, and Qualcomm being sued by its largest supplier.”
The US doesn’t make bicycles anymore — here’s how to change that
It took 30 years for the US to lose almost its entire bike manufacturing industry. Can the most bike friendly member of Congress fix that?