Posts Tagged: judge
TikTok ban in Montana blocked by US judge over free speech rights
Montana's unprecedented state-wide ban of Chinese short-video app, TikTok, was supposed to take effect on January 1, 2024, but as reported by Reuters, US District Judge Donald Molloy issued a preliminary injunction just one month ahead to block said ban. This means that for now, ByteDance and app stores are allowed to continue serving TikTok to users within the Montana state, without being fined $ 10,000 daily from the start date of the ban.
The judge was quoted saying the ban "oversteps state power and infringes on the constitutional rights of users" — echoing the legal challenge filed by five TikTok creators on the day after the bill was signed back in May, as well as another lawsuit filed by the platform's owner, ByteDance, later on in the same month. It was also questionable as to whether Google and Apple could have effectively enforced such a state-wide ban on their app stores.
The relevant bill was originally drafted based on claims that this Chinese app would share US users' personal data with the Chinese government, to which ByteDance had long denied since the presidency of Donald Trump. "TikTok US user data is stored in the US, with strict controls on employee access," the company claimed back in August 2020 — and again via a new "transparency" push earlier this year, with reference to "Project Texas" for safeguarding US user data with help from Oracle.
To date, no other US state had passed a bill to bar TikTok. The outcome of Montana's case may hold the key to this Chinese app's fate across the rest of the country.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tiktok-ban-in-montana-blocked-by-us-judge-over-free-speech-rights-011846138.html?src=rss
Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics
Judge tosses Republican lawsuit against Google over Gmail spam filters
Last year, the Republican National Committee (RNC) filed a lawsuit against Google accusing it of political bias over its Gmail spam filters. Now, a federal judge has dismissed that lawsuit, noting that Google was effectively protected by Section 230 of US law, and that the RNC had not "sufficiently pled that Google acted in bad faith" by filtering out campaign emails, The Washington Post has reported.
According to the lawsuit, Google intentionally marked "millions" of RNC emails as spam, so the group sought reimbursement for "donations it allegedly lost as a result" of that. As evidence, it cited a study finding that Gmail was more likely than Yahoo and other mail systems to mark Republican emails as spam. (One of the study's authors told the Post last year that its findings were cherry-picked.)
Calling the lawsuit a "close case," US District Court judge Daniel Calabretta said the RNC had "failed to plausibly allege its claims" that Google's spam filtering was done in bad faith. Google said that the emails in questions were likely flagged as spam because of user complaints, and cited RNC domain authentication issues and frequent mailouts as other potential issues.
The court also decided that RNC emails could be deemed "objectionable" based on the CAN-SPAM Act, and the fact that Google flagged them as such was covered by Section 230, which provides immunity to online platforms from civil liability based on third-party content. All that said, the judge said Republicans could still amend the lawsuit to better establish a lack of good faith by Google.
Interestingly, during last year's mid-term US elections, Google created a loophole allowing political campaigns to dodge Gmail spam filters. However, the RNC reportedly didn't take advantage of the program. Google has since ended the experiment, following largely negative feedback from the public.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/judge-tosses-republican-lawsuit-against-google-over-gmail-spam-filters-075622648.html?src=rss
Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics
Apple’s union-busting practices violated employee rights at NYC store, judge rules
Apple is once again in trouble for its union-busting practices. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) judge ruled Apple interfered with employees' organizing efforts at its World Trade Center store in New York City after workers, Bloomberg reported. Managers were found to have taken away pro-union flyers in the break room and attempted to dissuade employees from joining unions, which prosecutors argued had led employees to end the organizing campaign. A judge ordered Apple "cease and desist from coercively interrogating employees regarding their protected concerning activities and Union sympathies."
The news broke in early 2022 that Apple store workers nationwide were quietly organizing in response to concerns that their wages didn't reflect the rising cost of living. However, Apple soon hired the anti-union law firm Littler Mendelson, which also represents Starbucks and McDonalds, among others. The company also instructed store managers to share anti-union sentiments, such as warning employees that joining a union could bring reduced pay, career opportunities and time off. That May, the Communications Workers of America filed Unfair Labor Practice charges for the Apple stores in the World Trade Center and Atlanta's Cumberland Mall.
Union efforts are slowly gaining ground at Apple stores across the country. The NLRB previously found Apple had violated federal law in Atlanta, including daily mandatory anti-union meetings for employees and interrogating workers. Last year, employees at an Apple store in Maryland and another in Oklahoma voted to unionize. Yet, other locations like the St. Louis branch abandoned plans to unionize, blaming similar tactics by Apple.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apples-union-busting-practices-violated-employee-rights-at-nyc-store-judge-rules-115036323.html?src=rss
Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics
Judge dismisses Genius lawsuit against Google over ‘stolen’ lyrics
Last year, Genius made headlines when it used a "watermark" made up of alternating styles of apostrophes that spelled out "red handed" in Morse code to highlight what it said was Google scraping its annotated lyrics. While the move was clever, it has…
Engadget RSS Feed
Brazilian judge dismisses hacking charges against journalist Glenn Greenwald
Engadget RSS Feed
Judge orders Elon Musk and the SEC to settle Tesla tweet dispute
Engadget RSS Feed
Judge rejects Lime request to block e-scooter rivals in San Francisco
Lime just lost a last-minute bid to delay the launch of San Francisco's electric scooter pilot program. A judge has denied the company's request for a temporary restraining order that would have blocked Skip and Scoot from launching their services i…
Engadget RSS Feed
Judge OKs Dish lawsuit over Univision’s soccer livestreams
Engadget RSS Feed
Win for Apple as NY judge rules tech firm doesn’t have to unlock iPhone for FBI
Apple’s ongoing battle with the FBI over phone privacy received a boost Monday when a New York judge said the government cannot force the tech firm to access data on a locked iPhone that may provide evidence in a drug-related criminal case.
The post Win for Apple as NY judge rules tech firm doesn’t have to unlock iPhone for FBI appeared first on Digital Trends.