Alan L. Friel

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The Scope of CDA and DMCA Protection for Online Services Continues to Evolve

Photo of Zoe SteinbergBy Zoe Steinberg and Alan L. Friel on Posted in Copyright, Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA, codified 47 U.S.C. § 230) and the Safe Harbor provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA, codified 17 U.S.C. § 512) provide certain protections for operators of online services from some, but not all, third-party claims arising out of user content posted on those services. These … Continue Reading

UGC Uncertainty Consternation Continues

By Alan L. Friel on Posted in Advertising
Amended 9th Circuit Decision Does Not Clarify the Extent to Which Service Providers Can Manually Screen for Inappropriate User Content In April 2017, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals startled online service providers that allow users to post content (known as UGC, or user-generated content), by holding that the use of moderators to screen out … Continue Reading

FTC Turns Attention to Social Media Influencers Working for Advertisers

Photo of Stephanie LucasBy Stephanie Lucas and Alan L. Friel on Posted in Advertising
For years the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has made clear to advertisers that they are responsible for messages on social media by their employers or by consumers and celebrities and other influencers with which they have a material connection (e.g., they are employed, paid or given anything of value, even discounts, samples, coupons and sweepstakes … Continue Reading

FTC Warning to Website and Mobile App Publishers: Disclose Cross-device Tracking

By Benjamin Barnes and Alan L. Friel on Posted in Advertising, Big Data, FTC, Privacy
Website and app publishers rely on third parties that associate tracking technologies with their content to provide analytic and advertising data and services. Increasingly, this includes use of probabilistic and deterministic techniques to associate users across the many devices they may use to access the Internet and various sites and apps. This is known and … Continue Reading

Court of Appeals Upholds FCC’s Net Neutrality Rules and Regulatory Authority

By Alan L. Friel and Suchismita Pahi on Posted in Uncategorized
On June 14, 2016, the D.C. Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 in favor of the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) net neutrality rules, which the commission approved on February 26, 2015 (published March 12, 2015). This reclassified broadband internet access service (BIAS) as a telecommunications service under Title II of the Communications Act, affording the FCC greater … Continue Reading

New Cop on the Block – FCC’s Proposed Data Privacy and Security Rulemaking for Broadband Internet Access Providers

By Suchismita Pahi and Alan L. Friel on Posted in Cybercrime, Data Breaches
In 2015, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or global Commission) issued its Open Internet Order, applying Section 222 of the federal Communications Act to broadband Internet access services (BIAS), and in doing so took jurisdiction over privacy and data security matters for Internet Service Providers (ISPs). In doing so, it declined requests by some advocacy … Continue Reading

DAA Issues Inaugural Enforcement Action for Compliance with Mobile App Guidelines

By F. Paul Pittman and Alan L. Friel on Posted in Advertising, Privacy
In a prior post we noted the Digital Advertising Alliance’s (DAA) intention, late last year, to begin enforcement of the Application of Self-Regulatory Principles to the Mobile Environment (Mobile App Guidelines), which apply to all participants in the mobile advertising ecosystem. The DAA recently followed through on this promise by issuing its inaugural enforcement decision … Continue Reading

Mobile Apps That Appeal to Children Face Increased Regulatory Scrutiny

By Daniel Goldberg and Alan L. Friel on Posted in FTC
In September 2015, the Online Interest-based Advertising Accountability Program (Accountability Program) of the Advertising Self-regulatory Council (ASRC) began enforcing the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) Guidelines for Mobile Advertising (Mobile Guidance) and now the inevitable has happened: the Accountability Program has issued three compliance decisions with mobile app publishers whose apps allegedly failed to comply with … Continue Reading

Five Takeaways from the DAA’s Recent Cases Involving Interest-Based Ads

By David M. Brown and Alan L. Friel on Posted in Advertising, FTC, Native Advertising, Privacy
As we have previously chronicled here and here, the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) continues its sweep of interest-based advertising (IBA) through its enforcement vehicle, the Better Business Bureau’s Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program (OIBAAP). Two recent OIBAAP decisions involving web publisher Hollywood Reporter and programmatic advertising agency Varick Media Management provide further guidance on the … Continue Reading

FTC Issues Native Ad Guidance

Photo of Fernando A. Bohorquez, Jr.By Alan L. Friel, Fernando A. Bohorquez, Jr. and Alan M. Pate on Posted in Uncategorized
We have been closely following the evolution of “native advertising” and the regulatory response since before the FTC’s Workshop “Blurred Lines: Advertising or Content?” over two years ago. Applying traditional FTC truth-in-advertising principles, we have recommended how to avoid deception claims by the FTC or the NAD by providing clear and conspicuous disclosure that advertisements … Continue Reading

FTC Issues Native Ad Guidance

Photo of Fernando A. Bohorquez, Jr.By Alan M. Pate, Fernando A. Bohorquez, Jr. and Alan L. Friel on Posted in Advertising, Native Advertising
We have been closely following the evolution of “native advertising” and the regulatory response since before the FTC’s Workshop “Blurred Lines: Advertising or Content?” over two years ago. Applying traditional FTC truth-in-advertising principles, we have recommended how to avoid deception claims by the FTC or the NAD by providing clear and conspicuous disclosure that advertisements … Continue Reading

Take Care in Using Consumer Data to Drive Dynamic Pricing of E-Commerce

By Alan L. Friel on Posted in Software
Co-authored by: Hannah Bloink Dynamic pricing is the practice of offering different prices to consumers based on various factors designed to maximize sales and profits, which may include the retailer’s perception of the willingness of a particular consumer to pay at a given price point, often in connection with other factors such as a given … Continue Reading
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