Posts Tagged ‘ Facebook ’

Facebook Made a Hero out of Adam Guerbuez

October 7th, 2010. By Hunter West

Okay, we’ve all heard about him by now. “The 873 Million Dollar Man,” otherwise known as Adam Guerbuez, the Montreal computer whiz and self-confessed internet marketer who was found to have sent millions of unwanted and uninvited solicitations to Facebook users for everything from erectile dysfunction and penis enlargements to marijuana products.

Facebook took him to court, and two years ago a California court convicted Guerbuez of violating US anti-spam laws. He was fined a couple of hundred bucks for every spam (advertisement) he sent, which totals $873.3 million, when you add it all up.

Last week the Quebec Superior Court upheld the US ruling, in theory requiring Guerbuez to pay the judgment.

Give me a break.

First of all, no one of Guerbuez’s financial stature and position has that kind of money lying around. This is just a guy and a laptop. And if you want to be really impressed, that $873.3 million when converted to Canadian funds at the 2008 exchange rate equates too more than a billion dollars Canadian.

That’s like the US music publishing industry fining a single mom millions of dollars for allegedly pulling off music from peer Internet music sites without permission, violating copyright. Or fining some guy millions of dollars for pulling movies off the web before their theatrical release.

Okay, if they re-sold this stuff and made millions, then such a fine would be appropriate. But they’re not. We’re talking a single mom pulling down tunes because her daughter is Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Adam Guerbuez, Facebook, Million Dollar Man
Posted in Intellectual Property, Internet/E-commerce | 5174No Comments »2010-10-07+18%3A57%3A30Hunter+West

Facebook Can Take Instant Personalization and You-Know-What It

April 29th, 2010. By AbiK

spirograph design Facebook Can Take Instant Personalization and You Know What It We’re fans of Facebook. Or should I say “friends”. We like Facebook. And yes, LawyersAndSettlements.com also has a page on Facebook. But you won’t find what your BFF’s on Facebook “like” streaming on our site.

So why aren’t we embracing this Spirograph-like “open graph” concept? Five Reasons. Read on.

Reason One: Because we know you have a brain of your own. If you are interested in a certain legal topic or issue, you’ll go to it. Without your friend’s having to share the link on FB to prompt you. And hey, if they were really such good friends, wouldn’t they have sent you the link already if they thought you’d be interested?

Reason Two: We also know that you already have Google and Twitter and a whole bunch of other options out there that can tell you what’s popular or high-ranking in search. Oh, but as Mashable’s Pete Cashmore so aptly noted in a recent post at cnn.com, perhaps FB is jonesing to become the site “best positioned to rank the Web”.

Reason Three: It’s a privacy thing. We’re all on Facebook in our personal lives as well. We like to keep it intimate. Cozy. If we’ve shared it on Facebook, we’ve shared it on Facebook. Not on cnn.com’s homepage in some baton hand-off, website to website.

Reason Four: There’s something out-of-body about seeing your high school buddy’s name flashing before your eyes on the right side bar of cnn.com. It’s like some weird Warholian 15-minutes-of-fame thing—but isn’t in reality as you’re the only viewer seeing it. And it somehow stabs at the integrity of what you’re looking at…cheapens it a bit. It’s as though rather than having CNN on a wide-screen tv behind the bar you’re at, suddenly, cnn has pulled up a bar stool next to you. A little too…chummy. (Note, of the “50,000″+ sites who’ve adopted the new FB app, apparently news stalwarts NYT and WSJ have not…)

Reason Five: We’re finding—for ourselves—that most of the “friends” whose opinions we’d actually give a rat’s -ss about have opted out of Facebook’s new attempt at web domination. The mere fact that they had to dive into the depths of the veritable snake pit that the Facebook Privacy Settings are shows the lengths they went to—a sure sign that they did not “like” sharing their “likes”. Food for thought.

By the way, if you’re thinking that “opting out” of FB’s instant personalization option is a no-brainer, guess again. Intuitive it is not. Here’s how you do it. Go to your FB profile. Click on Account in the upper right. In the drop-down, go to Privacy Settings. From there, click on Applications and Websites. From there, uncheck the “Allow” box next to where it says, “Instant Personalization Pilot Program” (which FB had so graciously checked for you to begin with). Voila!

Oh, and hey—don’t forget to “like” us on Facebook!

Tags: Facebook, Internet Privacy, Privacy
Posted in Emerging Issues, Internet/E-commerce | 3487No Comments »2010-04-29+21%3A54%3A51AbiK

Watch Your P’s and Q’s on Facebook and Twitter

March 16th, 2010. By janem

face Watch Your Ps and Qs on Facebook and Twitter If you have a potential personal injury suit, the first thing a lawyer will tell you is to “Keep your mouth shut”. They should also add -and many already do– “Stay off Facebook, Twitter, and any other social networking sites, including your own blog.”

Not only are more people than ever turning to Internet sources for news, a recent study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project show that, of people who do get their news online, 75 percent of them have links sent via email or social media. And that percentage includes private investigators, insurers, defense lawyers and judges.

Insurance companies see social media as a monitor or search for information about claimants. They are looking for information a claimant has posted regarding an accident, such as how it happened, who caused it, or even the claimant saying it was their fault.

They also look for information which might contradict what the injured person says about their injury.

Here are a few examples:

In Ontario a woman who claimed she was disabled had Facebook photos of her dancing. The judge allowed the photos to be admitted as evidence in her personal injury case.

A Florida woman claimed a back injury and couldn’t work. She went on a cruise with friends and they videotaped her whooping it up, including a videotape of her doing the limbo. The insurance company had been on her Facebook site, downloaded the video and was ready to show it to the jury. The case didn’t turn out to her liking.

A Supreme Court judge ordered the production of records showing how often a plaintiff claiming a brain injury uses Facebook.

In a Twitter libel case, you would need to choose 140 characters-at the most–very, very carefully. The promoters of “the Cookie Diet” allegedly claimed that celebutant Kim Kardashian is a fan But Kardashian disdainfully tweeted she would never be on such an “unhealthy diet.” The Cookies filed a defamation case against Kardashian.

And insurance companies look for general information to profile what kind of a person you are. So if you have photos posted on FaceBook or MySpace in a bar or doing something arguably illegal, judgment evidence will be made against you–more negative fodder that a jury might frown on. Value judgments will be made about you–and even a lawyer you hire might decide not to take your case.

It has long been established that electronic documents can be relevant. In one Ontario case, a judge scolded the insurer’s lawyer for failing to ask the plaintiff to produce her Facebook page as part of a sworn affidavit, or to bring up Facebook in cross-examination. In another case, a judge ordered up the release of Facebook. So now some lawyers are demanding Facebook photos in every suit.

Typically, courts in civil cases can only demand private Facebook pages, or a twitter here and there if the material is directly related to the case. But just to be on the safe side, take Everything Down! Especially photographs and videos. The e-trail doesn’t stop there so be diligent: it’s also important that all your online friends purge you from their accounts. If a photo is tagged by someone else, it is still accessible by searching. And strengthen your privacy settings. It’s BIG BROTHER on the Social Media Highway!

Tags: Facebook, personal injury litigation, Twitter
Posted in Personal Injury | 3045No Comments »2010-03-16+23%3A55%3A27janem

A Facebook Lawsuit in Miami

February 22nd, 2010. By Hunter West

keyboard A Facebook Lawsuit in Miami Okay, so here’s the deal. A high school student—an honors student, no less—is at odds with her teacher. They just didn’t seem to get along. They clashed over assignments. It happens. But the student had to vent. So Katherine Evans created a Facebook page titled ‘Ms. Sarah Phelps in the worst teacher I’ve ever had,’ and invited current and former students of the maligned instructor to post their own comments.

Some were in support of the student. Others were in support of the teacher. With Facebook, you get what you get. The student did not control the content beyond setting the page up in the first place, and after a few days she took it down.

For all of that, the honors student was suspended from school for three days, accused of cyber-bullying.

Bullying?

Or free speech?

That’s the question. And now it’s the basis for a lawsuit, brought by Evans.

Katherine Evans is now 19 and a sophomore at the University of Florida. Beyond seeking a “nominal Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Facebook
Posted in Emerging Issues, lawsuits | 2757No Comments »A+Facebook+Lawsuit+in+Miami2010-02-22+21%3A57%3A12Hunter+West

Week Adjourned: 11.20.09

November 20th, 2009. By LucyC

Hey—is it Revenge of the Geek week? geekglasseswithtape Week Adjourned: 11.20.09

Top Class Actions

Microsoft Boxing Out Gamers? Microsoft got hit with a possible class action this week, over allegations that it unfairly banned Xbox Live Service from subscribers with modified Xbox consoles.

The issues relate to modifications made to Xbox consoles by tens of thousands of Xbox owners, which are against the terms of use for Xbox/Xbox Live, and Microsoft’s decision to ban those consoles. The lawsuit—which is now seeking lead plaintiffs—alleges that the timing of the ban was designed to avoid revenue losses that would have resulted had Microsoft implemented the ban prior to the release of the blockbuster Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 game, or less than two months after the release of Halo 3: ODST.

The class action includes anyone who has had their Xbox console modified and banned from Xbox Live, and did not receive a refund for the prorated time left on the Xbox Live subscription.

YoCash is OurCash Now? Facebook and Zynga are also facing a class action, alleging that they Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: BJ's, Facebook, Microsoft, mQube, Week Adjourned, XBox, Zynga
Posted in Week Adjourned | 19512 Comments »Week+Adjourned%3A+11.20.092009-11-21+00%3A12%3A52LucyC