Short Circuit 167 | Section 230 and a Drones Search

We get a little high-tech this week. Techdirt founder Mike Masnick joins us to explain how Section 230 actually works, and how it was somewhat unusually applied in a recent Second Circuit case. (Mike’s explanation may differ from what a multitude of “experts” have recently been saying in Congress and elsewhere.) And have you seen any drones above your house? IJ attorney Josh Windham tells a story about a drone that flew above someone’s property, and thereby committed a “search” under the Fourth Amendment (well, the government in charge of the drone did). This very interesting case from the Michigan Court of Appeals allows us to talk about drones, reasonable expectations of privacy, and whether the air above your house is an “open field.”

Transcript forthcoming: https://ij.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/short-circuit-167.pdf

Register here for the April 20th online event on the 150th anniversary of Section 1983, https://ij.org/event/outragelegislation/

New IJ drones case, https://ij.org/case/north-carolina-drones/

Greg McNeal, Police Drones, the Fourth Amendment, and Drone Trespass, https://gsmcneal.com/police-drones-the-fourth-amendment-and-drone-trespass-a-new-case-in-michigan/

Domen v. Vimeo, https://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/01ae9011-839d-4391-a5f8-59d94d49c45b/3/doc/20-616_opn.pdf

Long Lake Township v. Maxon, http://publicdocs.courts.mi.gov/OPINIONS/FINAL/COA/20210318_C349230_47_349230.OPN.PDF

Long Lake Township dissent, http://publicdocs.courts.mi.gov/OPINIONS/FINAL/COA/20210318_C349230_48_349230D.OPN.PDF

Mike Masnick, https://www.techdirt.com/user/mmasnick

Josh Windham, https://ij.org/staff/joshua-windham/

Anthony Sanders, https://ij.org/staff/asanders/

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