Judge Not Impressed By Lawsuit By Woman Who Was Banned By Facebook

from the try-try-again dept

We recently wrote about the lawsuit a woman filed, claiming an ADA violation, after Facebook shut down her account for violating the site's terms of service. We were pretty damn skeptical the case could go anywhere, and it appears that it's off to a pretty unpromising start. Kashmir Hill alerts us to the article she wrote about the judge expressing extreme skepticism about the case:

In an order issued last week, California Judge Jeremy Fogel voiced extreme skepticism about Young's complaint of violations of her constitutional rights and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Fogel denied her the right to proceed in forma pauperis -- without paying court fees -- explaining in the order that he has the right to do so "if it appears from the face of the proposed complaint that the action is frivolous or without merit."

"As presently drafted, the complaint appears to be without merit in that it fails to set forth a cognizable claim," writes Fogel. He dismissed Young's civil rights claims since Facebook is not a government actor. "The remaining claims do not explain adequately how Plaintiff's rights have been violated and the legal basis upon which relief may be granted," he writes.

Certainly doesn't sound like this case is going to go anywhere at all, thankfully.

Filed Under: ada, ban
Companies: facebook

South African Politicians Want To Ban All Porn Online

from the how-do-you-define-porn dept

What is it with politicians who don't understand basic concepts? Apparently, the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs in South Africa, Malusi Gigaba, thinks that it's possible to ban online porn. When people pointed out that it's just not that easy, he responded thusly:

"Cars are already provided with brakes and seatbelts... There is no reason why the internet should be provided without the necessary restrictive mechanisms built into it...."

Well, actually, Mr. Gigaba, there are plenty of perfectly legitimate reasons. Brakes and seatbelts have pretty easily defined tasks: slowing a car down and preventing you from flying forward in the event of a sudden stop. You can engineer that easily. What you can't engineer is a definition of porn that works. What is pornography? To each person it might be entirely different. How do you build a system that knows?

Furthermore, of course, there's a question of why you would even want to do so. That's not made at all clear in the article, but if you're talking about consenting adults trying to find some porn online, what's the problem with that?

Filed Under: ban, malusi gigaba, porn, south africa

Does It Make Sense To Ban Players From Xbox Live Just For Using A Glitch?

from the seems-a-bit-extreme dept

Microsoft recently got some attention for cutting off hundreds of thousands of Xbox Live players for using modded Xboxes -- even if there was no evidence they were used for cheating. This is already leading to talk of a class action lawsuit against Microsoft. Even so, Microsoft is now going even further, issuing temporary bans for all of Xbox Live for anyone using a certain "exploit" in Modern Warfare 2 that lets a player set off a grenade after they die in the game. It makes sense for Infinity Ward to create a fix for their own programming mistake, but it seems rather ridiculous for Microsoft to kick people out of the game for doing what the game actually allows. Why blame players for merely doing what is allowed by the game itself?

Filed Under: ban, exploit, xbox live
Companies: infinity ward, microsoft

Gamer Says Sony Violated His 1st Amendment Rights By Banning Him

from the that's-not-how-it-works dept

It's amazing how badly some people misunderstand the First Amendment. It only limits the government from passing laws that limit your free expression (with certain exceptions). It has nothing to do with what a private company or individual can do. In other words, it's not a right to say whatever you want with no consequence. So, I doubt that the following lawsuit will get very far. Apparently a video gamer is suing Sony saying it violated his First Amendment rights by banning him from the PlayStation 3 game "Resistance" for something he apparently said while talking to other players (found via Digg). But, of course, as a private company and not the government, Sony has every right to ban whoever they want, for a wide variety of reasons. So, kids, remember, the First Amendment isn't a right to say whatever you want without getting kicked off of a video game system for being annoying.

Filed Under: ban, first amendment, free speech, video game
Companies: sony

Norwegian ISP Fights Back Against Pirate Bay Ban

from the democratic-principles dept

The IFPI (the international version of the RIAA) has been working around the clock lately to try to get various ISPs to block access to The Pirate Bay and other file sharing sites. Some have caved in, while others have lost lawsuits. In Norway, however, leading ISP Telenor is fighting back, saying that taking orders from the entertainment industry to block sites it doesn't like goes against democratic principles:

"Instead of demanding that Internet providers censor the Internet and monitor the content that's transferred, Telenor believes that the best way to decrease illegal file sharing is to put more effort into making legally downloadable content available."

But, as we've seen over the years, there are still many in positions of power within the recording industry who believe that the best new business model is to try to stomp out anyone who challenges their old business model. Eventually, they'll realize what a failed plan that is.

Filed Under: ban, democracy, norway
Companies: telenor, the pirate bay

German Police Union Leader Adds To Chorus Calling For Video Game Ban

from the fingering-the-blame dept

After the tragic school shooting in Germany a couple of weeks ago, politicians almost immediately (and predictably) called for a ban on the sale of violent video games. Now, a leader of the German police union has also called for a ban, claiming that in "every" violent episode like the school shootings, the shooter has had an "addiction" to violent video games. Proof of the link between violent games and people acting out violence in real life remains tenuous, but the union boss says "when a chance to remove a probable cause exists, it must be used." Okay, sounds good. Violent people probably eat sandwiches, so let's ban them, too. I bet they have all ridden in cars, too, so riding in cars must cause violent behavior -- ban 'em. This correlation/causation thing is easy, isn't it?

Filed Under: ban, germany, video games

Bangladesh The Latest To Call Extra Attention To Controversial Video By Banning YouTube

from the axis-of-notube dept

It never fails. Over the past few years, a variety of government officials in different countries have freaked out about a single video on YouTube and gone on to ban the entire site. There was Brazil, which did it first, followed by Turkey which has gone back and forth on the YouTube ban multiple times. Not surprisingly, China has banned the site as well. Then there were Thailand and Pakistan, as well. In the case of Pakistan, the method for blocking YouTube served to break the site across the world by effectively tricking routers across the globe into believing YouTube wasn't where it really is.

Of course, each one of these bans has done the exact opposite of its intended purpose. Every time, it's only served to draw more interest to the video in question. So, you would think, by this point, government officials might think twice before banning an entire site over a single video. No such luck. Jay writes in to let us know that Bangladesh is the latest to ban all of YouTube over a single video of a meeting between the Prime Minister and military officials who were unhappy about some of the Prime Minister's decisions. And, of course, now that it's making news, that video is getting a lot more attention.

Filed Under: ban, bangladesh, videos, youtube
Companies: google, youtube

NY Politician Demands Ban Of Video Game... Not Available In The US

from the moral-panic dept

There was a flutter of controversy last week, when someone realized that a rather despicable video game, where the goal of gameplay is apparently to rape someone, was available for sale via Amazon's marketplace (where 3rd party sellers offer items, rather than Amazon itself). Amazon was quick to block the sale of the game, but that hasn't stopped a politician in NY from using the story as an opportunity to grandstand. New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is demanding US publishers boycott distributing the game, which seems pretty silly since no US publishers are distributing the game (it's only been released in Japan), and there's no indication anyone wants to distribute the game in the US. But why should that stop a good opportunity to create some moral panic?

Filed Under: ban, christine quinn, moral panic, politics, video games

Online Watchdog Admits It Goofed On Wikipedia Ban; Reverses Decision

from the a-bit-late-for-that dept

After being subject to widespread ridicule for forcing Wikipedia in the UK to block a page for an album cover graphic from 32 years ago, the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) has withdrawn its block on the page and said it's fine. Apparently "given the age and availability of the image," the group no longer thinks it's appropriate to be on the list. Of course, the age and availability of the image was true before. Though, if anything, this attempt at blocking the image only made the image more available.

Filed Under: ban, wikipedia
Companies: internet watch foundation

Court Says Italy Can't Block The Pirate Bay

from the ah,-pesky-laws dept

Lots of people were surprised back in August when a prosecutor in Italy told Italian ISPs they needed to start blocking The Pirate Bay. That was problematic for a variety of reasons -- from why ISPs should be responsible for filtering content to why The Pirate Bay had no chance to tell its side of the story to (the most questionable of all) the fact that ISPs were told to redirect people to a site run by the record labels. But, of course, as with any of these blocks, the attention only served to drive more traffic to The Pirate Bay in Italy.

Still, even ordering the blocks in the first place seemed highly questionable, so The Pirate Bay asked an Italian court to reverse the order -- and that's exactly what's happened. The court has ordered that the bans be lifted. So, it appears that all the Italian prosecutor did was drive a lot more traffic to The Pirate Bay by getting it a lot more attention, without being able to actually ban the site.

Filed Under: ban, isps, italy
Companies: pirate bay