court

Google has won a major victory over "right to be forgotten" rules . When it agrees to delete 'outdated' search results, it will no longer have to do so outside of Europe. The latest ruling is part of a long running saga that began when European ... courts tried to find a balance between the competing rights to free speech and privacy. It all began with a Spanish man whose house was forcibly sold to settle a debt - an incident that was reported in a local newspaper. Eleven years later he asked the newspaper to delete the archived report, saying it was the top search result for his name and the ... (view more)

A court says Dominos Pizza must make it easier for blind people to order online. It said legal principles should be applied, even though specific regulations aren't yet in place. The case was brought by would-be customer Guillermo Robles who ... attempted to use an iPhone to place an order. Although blind, he is able to browse websites using the iPhone's built-in screen reader software. According to Robles, both the Dominos app and website lacked "alt-text" labels, which are text that describe an image and which can be read out by the screen reader. Robles said the specific missing descriptions ... (view more)

A judge says police can't force a suspect to unlock a phone with a fingerprint or other biometric measure, including a suspect's face . It's the latest step in the way privacy laws interact with technological changes. This ruling came from a federal ... judge in a court in California and involved a review of a search warrant request. The case involved two suspects allegedly using Facebook Messenger to trying to extort a victim by threatening to publish an embarrassing video. (Source: gizmodo.com ) The police wanted permission to not only search a location where they believed they would find the ... (view more)

A Florida court has ruled that "Facebook friends" don't count as real friendships. The decision followed claims that it was not possible for a judge to be unbiased, especially if he was a Facebook friend with an attorney in the same case. The ruling ... came from the Florida Supreme Court, which upheld previous rulings from lower courts. Both rejected claims that having a "Facebook friend" relationship between the aforementioned parties may result in not having a fair and impartial trial. The argument for the judge being potentially biased was based largely on advise given by ... (view more)

A judge says Amazon must hand over recordings from an Echo smart speaker to assist with a stabbing case that left two women dead. It's the first time such a court order has been made without a defendant's permission. The New Hampshire case involved ... two women's bodies being discovered under a porch. A man who knew the boyfriend of one of the victims has been charged with two counts of first degree murder, and has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors say there is probable cause that the device could contain potential evidence which could include "audio recordings of the attack and events that ... (view more)

A German court has ruled that Facebook accounts can be inherited. It's the latest attempt to solve the problem of what happens to online data after somebody dies. The ruling came from the Federal Court of Justice, Germany's highest court, and ended ... a six-year legal process. It began with the death of a 15-year-old who died when she was hit by a train. Her parents asked Facebook to give them access to her account, meaning they could see the contents of private message exchanges. They said they wanted to find any clues as to whether the death was suicide or an accident. As well as giving the ... (view more)

A European court has ruled that Uber is a transport company rather than a tech business. It may not make an immediate difference to its operations, but could be a big step in the way online companies are regulated. Uber, which describes itself as a ... ride-hailing firm, lets users hire a cab through a smartphone app, then pairs them with self-employed drivers in the area. The ruling by the European Court of Justice stemmed from attempts by city officials in Barcelona, Spain to hold Uber to the same local regulations as traditional taxi services. The legal principle determined by the case now ... (view more)

A German court has upheld Facebook's refusal to let the parents of a deceased girl access her private messages. It's the latest attempt to deal with the tricky balance of dealing with social network history after people die. The sheer number of ... people on Facebook means that users dying has become a significant issue. An estimated 10,000 users die each day and more than 30 million have already passed away. Facebook deals with the issue by "memorializing" accounts. Once it has seen credible evidence that a person has died, it can put the account into a special mode in which ... (view more)

A Swiss man has been fined for libel after clicking the Facebook "like" button. The court ruled that doing so exposed a post to more users and thus counted as a publication in itself. Several other people had already been found responsible for libel ... in the same case, but they had all written something in their own words rather than simply clicking "like". The unnamed defendant was fined $4,000 Swiss francs, equivalent to US $4,120. He has the right to appeal but his lawyers says the cost of doing so will likely mean he doesn't. Court: 'Like' Makes Content Your ... (view more)

A US court says a man must provide the password to unlock two hard drives that prosecutors say contain unlawful images. The court rejected his appeal that to do so would breach his fifth amendment rights, which roughly translate to: "No person shall ... be held to answer for a ... [crime], unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury." The case is an unusual twist on the more common disputes about how the fourth amendment -- which deals with searches and seizures -- applies to technology. In this case the man claims that handing over the password could incriminate him. The ... (view more)