What are the top 10 internet cases of 2008?

I’m working on gathering a list of the most important internet- and technology-related cases from the past year. There are many cases to choose from, and I’m trying to crowdsource the nomination process. I invite you to nominate the case or cases you think have been most significant by leaving a comment to this post. Think in terms of (1) the decision’s practical implications, (2) the novelty of the judge’s thinking, and (3) the “interestingness” of the facts.

For inspiration, browse the Internet Cases archives, or go visit Professor Goldman who doesn’t let much in the way of interesting cases slip by.

Thanks in advance for your help!

10 Comments

  1. T
    December 10, 2008

    The Julie Amero case has to be on there, if for nothing else than it was one of the most public forensics cases this year.

  2. Brett Trout
    December 10, 2008

    In re Bilski

  3. Michael
    December 10, 2008

    I don't know if this fits the criteria of what you are looking for but the case regarding the Suicide of Megan Meier because of a Neighborhood Mom playing a joke on her is particularly important imo.

    The laws need to be changed to prosecute that woman who caused that.

    On a side note….. Cool Blog. I am a web designer so this site would be good for me to keep up with. Subscribed to Feed.

  4. Evan Brown
    December 10, 2008

    Michael – the Lori Drew/Megan Meier case definitely should be on the top 10 list. It's got policy implications as well as legal ones, which trickle down to the concerns one should have about the terms of service for nearly any kind of website.

  5. Chris
    December 11, 2008

    Several cases come to mind:

    1) Tiffany v. eBay

    2) The MySpace suicide case

    3) The indictment of the SAP employees for violation of the CFAA (that happened this year, right? and they were indicted, right? and they did allegedly violate the CFAA, right?)

    4) The jury verdict in the Minnesota? RIAA case (that was this year as well, right?

  6. d f
    December 11, 2008

    jacobsen v. katzer

  7. Travis
    December 11, 2008

    Roommates.com or the American Airlines settlement with Google followed by the American Airlines suit against Yahoo.

  8. Venkat
    December 11, 2008

    Good question! WIkileaks for sure, which illustrates the power of the internet as a check on the judicial power.

  9. Kat
    December 15, 2008

    U.S. v. Arnold in the 9th circuit, more computer than internet related, on searching laptops at the border: http://www.eff.org/cases/us-v-arnold

  10. Fighter
    December 27, 2008

    Lori Drew – Megan Meier's 'Murder' we'd say is #1

    2 – Haberman v. Rhoad (Psychopath Phil Haberman abuses the system)

    3 – John McKendy's Murder after being Cyberstalked

    4 – Wayne Forrester – murders wife for her Facebook posting

    5 – James Gardner (U.K.) Serial Cyberstalker

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