In This Issue:

- Court Protects Anonymity of Yelp Users

- FTC Issues Landmark Report on Internet of Things

- Who Will Update My Status When I’m Dead?: The Biggest Social Media Platforms’ Policies on Deceased-User Accounts

- Data for the Taking: Using Website Terms and Conditions to Combat Web Scraping

- First-Ever Award of “Any Damages” for Fraudulent DMCA Takedowns Under Section 512(f)

- With Highly Anticipated Copyright Decision, the AutoHop Litigation Is Coming to a Close

- The New Frontier in Interest Based Advertising: FTC Shifts Focus to Cross-Device Tracking

- Excerpt from Court Protects Anonymity of Yelp Users:

Virginia’s highest court recently held that Yelp could not be forced to turn over the identities of anonymous online reviewers that a Virginia carpet-cleaning owner claimed tarnished his business.

In the summer of 2012, Joseph Hadeed, owner of Hadeed Carpet Cleaning, sued seven anonymous Yelp reviewers after receiving a series of critical reviews. Hadeed alleged that the reviewers were competitors masking themselves as Hadeed’s customers and that his sales tanked after the reviews were posted. Hadeed sued the reviewers as John Doe defendants for defamation and then subpoenaed Yelp, demanding that it reveal the reviewers’ identities.