A number of consumer advocates and digital civil rights groups, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, have filed an emergency petition asking the FCC to review whether a government agency has the authority to close down channels of communication in the event of an emergency.  This petition comes a little over a month after the Bay [...]

In Mexico anyways. From the New York Times: “[A]ccording to scholars and many Mexicans, social media has become a necessity in Mexico, with a mission far different from what has emerged in the Arab revolutions, or in China. In those countries, social networks have been used to route around identifiable sources of repression and to [...]

Days before his execution, Troy Davis’s guilt is questioned. In this era, it is impossible to oversee the overwhelming support generated by social media and the far-reaching impact of open media. Troy Davis’s execution date is this Wednesday, September 21st, at 7 p.m.  He is set to be executed at a prison in Jackson, Georgia, [...]

The FTC seeks public comment on a proposed amendment to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. Read more about it at The New York Times.  

Orlando Magic point guard Gilbert Arenas’s tweets about a new reality show featuring his ex were used as evidence to deny a preliminary injunction against the show.  Citing a series of tweets making his relationship a matter of public concern and his sharing his “crude and offensive” views on women, the district judge pointed out [...]

John Galliano, the former creative director of the fashion house Dior, was found guilty of hate crimes and given a suspended fine of 6,000 euros on Thursday by a French tribunal. From the New York Times: “Mr. Galliano clashed with a woman in October and a couple in February. A third incident last December was [...]

Ten years ago, when AOL acquired Time Warner for $164 billion, the pervasive wisdom and general consensus was: Content is King. At the time, the gargantuan merger made sense. Fast forward ten years, and today not everyone agrees – but Google still seems to think so. In a deal announced today, Google will be acquiring [...]

Each month, Editor-in-Chief Jacqueline McMahon weighs in on topics and legal issues covered in the IPLJ.  This month Jacqueline tackles the very real… and scary… implications of social media. There’s “stalking” … and then there’s stalking. Thanks to William Lawrence Cassidy, the invisible line separating appropriate and inappropriate conduct on social media sites has become [...]

We’ve reported on the DOJ’s displeasure with the infamous AT&T and T-Mobile deal. And now it seems that Sprint is joining the fray to block AT&T and T-Mobile from making this deal. From the New York Times Dealbook article: “Sprint was one of the first and biggest opponents of the T-Mobile deal, having failed to [...]

The DOJ filed suit yesterday to block the AT&T and T-Mobile merger. Commentators ponder what will it mean for consumers, Obama, and the DOJ’s future antitrust cases.