Can you actually "delete" online predators?

MySpace.com's security officer seems to think so, MySpace won't turn over names of sex offenders:

"Everybody needs to get together and delete online predators," Nigam said, adding that MySpace supports state and federal legislation requiring sex offenders to register e-mail addresses. "The attorneys general's concerns and our concerns are exactly the same."

To be honest, I'm not sure what to make of MySpace.com's Electronic Communications Privacy Act argument. Seems a bit frivilous, perhaps I'll have to look at it a bit more, but it doesn't seem that they AG's are asking for intercepted information.

What is probably true, however, is that they don't have to turn over records without a subpoena, and they may be using this as a reason not to do so. I may have to look at Myspace's terms of use as well.

Good-faith in pay-per-click advertising...

... who'd have thunk it? Apparently the Southern District of New York.

Because this tactic would allow Findwhat to increase its profits solely at its discretion and with no benefit to Payday, it is
plausible that it could be found to “destroy[] or injur[e]” Payday’s rights under the contract. Dalton, 663 N.E.2d at 291. It is furthermore likely that a reasonable advertiser entering into such a contract would expect that, whatever the external risks of unproductive “clicks,” it would not be subjected to unbounded increases in its prices at the hands of its promisor or at its promisor’s direction.

Yet another, click-wrap agreement enforced.

Forum Selection, Other Click-Wrap Terms

So long as a forum selection clause in an online contract's terms is readily accessible and clear, requiring users to scroll down or print the contract to see it and other terms is acceptable, and will not absolve a party who clicks "I Agree" without taking the time to view the whole agreement, the U.S. District court for the Northern District of Pennsylvania held March 28 (Feldman v. Google Inc., N.D. Pa., No. 06-2540, 3/28/07).

Read the full opinion.

Spiders and terms of use

While the plaintiff in this case seems a little over the edge, the Wayback Machine v. Shell case presents some interesting legal questions: to what extent can a spider be bound to the terms of use of a website.

I think that it's fairly safe to say that most think terms of use are probably enforceable. However, it is possible that a spider can be an agent?

Hat tip Eric Goldman.

Oracle sues SAP

Oracle sues SAP for "corporate theft on a grand scale": complaint.