- Are threats made on social media protected free speech, or potentially criminal acts? The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to examine the constitutionality of a federal law making it a crime to transmit communications containing “any threat to injure the person of another.” In this case, the “threats” were in a series of Facebook postings.
- The U.S. Department of Transportation wants to formally clarify that it has the authority to regulate navigation aids of all sorts in automobiles, including apps in smartphones. It’s interested in preventing distracted driving in additional situations besides cellphone conversations.
- Social-media participation by people participating in double-blind drug trials has the potential to “unblind” the trials and make them less useful because participants are sharing their experiences in online forums in violation of instructions not to do so. This problem has no obvious solution.
