Cyber Security Potential Legal Claims
Twitter lets registered users publish posts, called “tweets,” of up to 140 characters. Other registered users can “follow” a user, in which case the followed user’s tweets appear in the follower’s Twitter newsfeed. In addition, Twitter causes registered users to automatically “follow” other accounts that Twitter thinks might be interesting (users can subsequently unfollow those accounts). Unregistered users can read a user’s tweets by visiting the user’s profile page. [Note: most of the facts about Twitter recounted in this exam reflect current Twitter practices. However, to the extent these facts vary from reality, please use this exam’s facts instead.] Christine Jacko Christine Jacko was Chief Public Relations Officer for Poodle, one of the 50 largest companies in the United States. In addition, she regularly gave motivational talks as a side business, so her name has achieved secondary meaning for her speaking services. Christine maintained a personal Twitter account @christinejacko9. Moments before boarding a long (and Internet-less) flight to Cape Town, South Africa, she posted the following tweet to Twitter: Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white! This tweet implies that visitors to Africa face a heightened risk of contracting AIDS; it also implies that “white” people have some advantage over people of color in avoiding AIDS; and it could further imply that people of color are more likely to engage in practices that contribute to the spread of AIDS. Twitter Reacts Although Christine intended the tweet as an edgy joke, the racial and possible socio-economic implications of her tweet nevertheless made it ill-advised, especially for a high-level executive of a major company—and especially for someone who should understand public relations. The negative reaction to Christine’s tweet was immediate and severe. Instantly, some Twitter users started speculating how quickly Poodle would fire Christine for the tweet. Twitter users also pointed out that Christine, who wouldn’t have Internet access during her long flight, was probably unaware that her career was being destroyed as she was relaxing on the plane. As a result, Twitter users started adding the hashtag #HasChristineLandedYet to their tweets, speculating what would happen when Christine arrived at her destination and realized that she’d ignited controversy across the globe. A “hashtag” makes it easy to search in Twitter for other tweets containing the identical phrase. #HasChristineLandedYet quickly became one of the most popular hashtags on Twitter, becoming a “trending” hashtag. GoGeaux provides Wi-Fi services on airplanes. It purchased a “promoted tweet” from Twitter, which allowed GoGeaux to prominently display the following tweet (as an ad) in conjunction with other tweets shown for a Twitter search for the keywords #HasChristineLandedYet and #ChristineJacko: Next time you tweet something stupid before you take off, make sure your flight has @GoGeaux! #ChristineJacko #HasChristineLandedYet Beth is a Twitter user with no connection to Christine. Beth registered the domain name christinejacko.com, where she displayed a button that would direct donations to AID(S)Africa, a charity fighting AIDS in Africa (a non-profit organization that Beth has no other connection with). Beth posted a tweet: You can help fight AIDS in Africa by visiting christinejacko.com #HasChristineLandedYet While Christine was still in the air, Beth received an email from a marketing company asking her if she would be willing to sell the christinejacko.com domain name. Beth replied: “Not right now but maybe later if the price is right.” William, Christine’s ex-boyfriend, posted two tweets. The first tweet said: Christine Jacko has been a racist for years #HasChristineLandedYet and included a link to a publicly available blog post that Christine wrote in college expressing support for more stringent immigration restrictions. The second tweet said: Stolen images of Christine Jacko nude!!! #HasChristineLandedYet and included a link to a photo William uploaded to Twitter of a nude selfie that Christine texted him while they were dating. Twitter has an automated filter to screen out pornographic images, but the filter failed to detect this photo. 416 other Twitter users “retweeted” William’s second tweet, meaning that those individuals reposted the tweet on their profile page and shared it with their followers. In addition, Twitter’s internal search function automatically sorts tweets based, in part, on their popularity. As a result, searchers for the keyword #HasChristineLandedYet saw William’s “stolen images” tweet listed as the first search result. While Christine was on the plane, her friend Rebecca noticed William’s posting of the selfie photo. Rebecca emailed Twitter’s customer support email address and informed Twitter that the selfie should not be published on Twitter. Twitter Support sent an auto-reply to Rebecca saying that it got her inquiry and would investigate the matter, but Twitter had not done anything about Rebecca’s inquiry before Christine deleted her account. Sarah, a public relations professional at another company, sent a “direct message” to the Twitter account for Poodle’s human resource executive, saying: Dump Christine and hire someone who actually understands public relations…like me! Sarah’s direct message included a link to Sarah’s publicly posted resume. (A Twitter “direct message” is a tweet that can be seen only by a specified recipient. It shows up in the recipient’s “messages” tab). What Happened when Christine Landed? Upon landing in Cape Town, Christine immediately deleted her Twitter account and returned to her home in the United States. Nevertheless, the next day, Poodle fired her (it did not hire Sarah). In addition, clients stopped hiring Christine to give motivational speeches. The Twitter Company All registered Twitter users must navigate through the following page: [Note: “type the words above” refers to a captcha that didn’t appear in this screenshot]. Twitter’s Terms of Service say that users may not engage in “illegal” behavior or “spamming” or otherwise “abuse, harass, threaten, impersonate or intimidate other Twitter users.” The Terms of Service also say that repeat infringers will be terminated. The Terms of Service also say: We reserve the right to alter these Terms of Service at any time. If the alterations constitute a material change to the Terms of Service, we will notify you via internet mail according to the preference expressed on your account. What constitutes a “material change” will be determined at our sole discretion, in good faith and using common sense and reasonable judgment. Twitter has never attempted to amend its Terms of Service. Discuss Christine’s potential legal claims, if any, against GoGeaux, Beth, William and Twitter. If you think Christine should pursue additional defendants, feel free to discuss those claims as well. Also, discuss Twitter’s potential legal claims, if any, against William and Sarah.
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