Twitter Troubles
“[The announcement] has nothing to do with China.”
- Alex Macgillivray, general counsel for Twitter
Twitter announced on Jan. 26 that it would be censoring tweets in certain countries at the request of foreign governments. Macgillivray said this decision was unrelated to China, where Twitter is currently blocked.
Oily Appeal
"Throughout the course of this litigation, judges corruptly operating in concert with the plaintiffs' lawyers have created, rather than corrected, injustice."
- Chevron vice president and general counsel Hewitt Pate
Oil giant Chevron was ordered by an Ecuadorian judge in February 2011 to pay $8.6 billion for allegedly polluting the Amazon jungle, an amount which was then raised to $18 billion when Chevron failed to make a public apology. The company is now appealing the fine to Ecuador’s National Court of Justice.
Facebook Fraud
"Security is an arms race. It's important to stay a step ahead against spammers and scammers."
- Ted Ullyot, Facebook's general counsel
On Jan. 26, Facebook and the state of Washington filed a lawsuit against the Delaware-based ad company Adscend Media, which allegedly has been using Facebook’s “Like” button to trick victims into visiting advertising sites and divulging personal information, a practice Facebook dubs “clickjacking.”
California Carcinogens
“The federal FDA needs to ban formaldehyde as an ingredient in these popular products so consumers and salon workers are not inhaling a known human carcinogen. Period."
- Heather White, chief of staff and general counsel for Environmental Working Group.
The state of California settled with the makers of Brazilian Blowout hair products on Jan. 30, requiring that the company cease deceptive advertising that suggests its products are formaldehyde-free and safe. The Environmental Working Group’s GC responded, saying that while the California case is a step in the right direction, it won’t be enough to fix the problem of formaldehyde in hair products.
Petition Privacy
"Few processes in the electoral system or elsewhere are more public than the signing of recall petitions against state elected officials."
- Kevin Kennedy, director and general counsel of the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board.
On Jan. 31, the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board posted electronic copies online of 1 million signatures from the effort to recall Gov. Scott Walker in spite of privacy concerns raised by advocacy groups.
