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Presentations & Interviews ICLE Director of Law & Economics Programs Gus Hurwitz joined Steptoe & Johnson’s The Cyberlaw Podcast to discuss Elon Musk’s bid to buy Twitter and . . .
ICLE Director of Law & Economics Programs Gus Hurwitz joined Steptoe & Johnson’s The Cyberlaw Podcast to discuss Elon Musk’s bid to buy Twitter and how it has revealed hypocrisies on both the right and left.
https://www.steptoe.com/podcasts/TheCyberlawPodcast-403.mp3
Popular Media The antitrust debate on app store practices is all over the news almost every day. Last month, the Paris Commercial Court fined Google for abusive . . .
The antitrust debate on app store practices is all over the news almost every day. Last month, the Paris Commercial Court fined Google for abusive dealings with developers, while the Dutch competition authority issued a tenth weekly penalty payment against Apple for failing to comply with its decision to allow dating apps on its App Store to use non-Apple methods of payment. Yet, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit will soon rule in Epic’s appeal over the Californian District Court ruling in its case against Apple.
Read the full piece here.
Popular Media In the wake of Russia’s invasion, Europe’s plans to regulate technology look like a relic from a bygone era. An urgent need exists to rethink . . .
In the wake of Russia’s invasion, Europe’s plans to regulate technology look like a relic from a bygone era. An urgent need exists to rethink the assumptions and the goals of the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the Digital Services Act (DSA), and the AI Act (AIA) – indeed, Europe’s entire digital sovereignty agenda.
Popular Media Four years after Congress passed an exception to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act that made it possible to hold websites liable for user-generated . . .
Four years after Congress passed an exception to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act that made it possible to hold websites liable for user-generated content that facilitates sex trafficking, some lawmakers want to examine what the impact has been. In the process, we may learn more about the tradeoffs required to strike a reasonable balance between holding online platforms accountable and protecting venues for user-generated content.
Presentations & Interviews The Federalist Society – ICLE Director of Competition Policy Kristian Stout took part in a webinar organized by the Federalist Society on Section 230, common law, . . .
The Federalist Society – ICLE Director of Competition Policy Kristian Stout took part in a webinar organized by the Federalist Society on Section 230, common law, and free speech. The full video is embedded below.
Popular Media The EARN IT Act, recently cleared for floor consideration by the Senate Judiciary Committee, remains a contentious bill, primarily over concerns that it might dissuade . . .
The EARN IT Act, recently cleared for floor consideration by the Senate Judiciary Committee, remains a contentious bill, primarily over concerns that it might dissuade tech providers from using encryption. But amid ongoing debate about Section 230 and the role of tech platforms in our public discourse, legislation like EARN IT could, if paired with carefully crafted procedural protections, offer a model for how Congress can address bipartisan concerns about child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and other illegal content online.
TL;DR While Congress is considering legislation that would dictate the terms that major app stores can offer to app developers, several states have similarly pursued legislation to regulate app stores.
While Congress is considering legislation that would dictate the terms that major app stores can offer to app developers, several states have similarly pursued legislation to regulate app stores. In particular, bills requiring app-store providers to permit the practice of “sideloading,” or prohibiting them from requiring that specific payment mechanisms be used, have gained traction in several states. Some state bills also would create a private right of action against app stores.
A proliferation of state regulations threatens to create a patchwork of rules for mobile app stores, which operate globally. In this landscape, it is likely that one or two large states could set the regulatory baseline for the entire country. Smaller states that set burdensome rules could force app stores to cease distributing apps from developers domiciled in their jurisdictions.
These bills are ill-advised on their own terms. Mandating that closed app-store platforms permit the use of alternative payment options could see large developers and rival payment processors free ride on an app store’s own investments. Denying closed platforms the ability to prohibit “sideloading” could compromise cybersecurity. These state bills would substitute regulatory fiat for consumer choice, sacrificing the benefits currently enjoyed by many consumers.
Read the full explainer here.
TOTM In Fleites v. MindGeek—currently before the U.S. District Court for the District of Central California, Southern Division—plaintiffs seek to hold MindGeek subsidiary PornHub liable for alleged . . .
In Fleites v. MindGeek—currently before the U.S. District Court for the District of Central California, Southern Division—plaintiffs seek to hold MindGeek subsidiary PornHub liable for alleged instances of human trafficking under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) and the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA). Writing for the International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE), we have filed a motion for leave to submit an amicus brief regarding whether it is valid to treat co-defendant Visa Inc. as a proper party under principles of collateral liability.
Amicus Brief An ICLE amicus brief filed in U.S. District Court in California supporting a motion to dismiss a suit in which holding Visa collaterally liable would generate massive social cost.
The attached was submitted Jan. 17, 2022, by the International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE) to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Southern Division, as a proposed amicus brief in case of Fleites v. MindGeek in support of co-defendant Visa Inc.’s motion to dismiss.
Visa sits outside the boundaries of liability contemplated by statutes like RICO and TVPRA. At the very outer boundaries, liability for indirect actors under these statutes is analogous to the sorts of collateral liability sometimes found in other statutes and in common law tort.[1] But the nature of the relationship between Visa and the alleged direct actors in this case, dictated by the mechanics of payment networks, does not support the traditional economic and policy rationales for assigning collateral liability. This amicus brief elucidates the law and economics of collateral liability and applies it to the circumstances of Visa’s alleged participation in the alleged enterprises at issue. As discussed further below, the general principles of collateral liability counsel strongly against holding Visa liable for the harms suffered by Plaintiffs. To hold otherwise would be sure to generate a massive amount of social cost that would outweigh the potential deterrent or compensatory gains sought.
Read the full brief here.
[1] This amicus brief uses the term “collateral liability” to encompass a range of theories of civil liability aimed at secondary actors not directly responsible for causing harm. Thus, the term contemplates causes of action like premises liability for third-party injury, distributor liability for defamation, civil aiding and abetting liability for fraud, contributory and inducement liability for copyright infringement, and various theories of vicarious liability under the doctrine of respondeat superior. See generally Reiner Kraakman, Third-Party Liability, in 3 THE NEW PALGRAVE DICTIONARY OF ECONOMICS AND THE LAW 583 (Peter Newman ed., 1998).
