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.
The embattled New York City mayor allegedly attempted to use this excuse to keep the FBI from searching his phone. It didn’t help: he was indicted Wednesday on charges of fraud, bribery, and soliciting donations from foreign nationals.
Generally speaking, though, it’s a good idea not to give the cops your phone — even if you’re not under investigation for your relationship with the Turkish government.
The very-online shortsellers published a report about the AI server-making company. Among the allegations: selling products to Russia in violation of sanctions, accounting violations, and transactions with companies controlled by the CEO’s family. Now the DOJ wants to hear more.
A proposed class action lawsuit filed in Washington state claims Amazon misleads customers about Fire TV prices during “limited-time” deals:
Far from being on sale, or being sold at a discount off of List Prices, the Fire TVs were always available for sale during the class period. As a result, everything about Defendants’ price and purported discount advertising is false and misleading.
This echoes a similar lawsuit filed against Amazon in 2021.
TikTok’s lawyer is off the stage, and Judge Noemi Rao is questioning Jeffrey Fisher, who represents a lawsuit from users of TikTok. Fisher’s argument so far centers on the claim that American media creators have a right to work with publishers of their choosing. Rao is questioning how far that right should stretch — emphasizing the judges’ focus on TikTok’s Chinese ownership.
The DC Circuit Court of Appeals has just started its morning session, where TikTok and the US Government will be fighting over the divest-or-ban law passed earlier this year. There’s one brief argument in another case before it starts.
Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyers argue that Judge Lewis Kaplan unfairly limited the evidence that was allowed in court, including that Bankman-Fried had relied on lawyers in making his decisions. Also stealing all that money wasn’t really that bad because his victims were eventually repaid.
[The New York Times]
Newsom has until September 30th to decide SB 1047’s fate, and both sides are lobbying hard.
Anthropic’s new chief product officer on the promise and limits of chatbots like Claude and what’s next for generative AI.
DirecTV alleged in a complaint to the FCC Saturday that Disney, which pulled its channels from DirecTV last week in its latest carriage dispute, is being anticompetitive, as quoted in Variety:
“The negotiations have stalled because Disney insists on bundling and penetration requirements that a federal district court judge in New York recently found ... to be unlawful, anticompetitive, and ‘bad for consumers.’”
From Disney’s statement to the outlet:
“We urge DirecTV to stop creating diversions and instead prioritize their customers by finalizing a deal that would allow their subscribers to watch our strong upcoming lineup of sports, news and entertainment programming, starting with the return of ‘Monday Night Football.’”
Prosecutors for the US Department of Justice said in a hearing Friday that the DOJ will outline what Google should do to reverse its search monopoly status by December, reports Reuters.
Judge Amit Mehta is expected to hold hearings in the spring to determine the final remedy.
That’s according to Forbes, which reports that the man had used a GoPro to record children at Disney World for the purpose:
... Justin Culmo, who was arrested in mid-2023, admitted to creating thousands of illegal images of children taken at the amusement park and at least one middle school, using a version of AI model Stable Diffusion ...
Why is OpenAI paying publishers if it already took their work?
Insider accounts of the company reveal a chaotic work environment, ever-shifting priorities, and troubles with the SEC
