The US Senate unanimously approved a bill Thursday to crackdown on robocalls, sending it to President Donald Trump for executive approval. The Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act (TRACED) is designed improve enforcement of the Communications Act of 1934. The act both imposes strict penalties for individuals who directly violate it and ensures [...]

The regional court of Frankfurt am Main in Germany issued a ruling Thursday banning the ride-hailing service Uber throughout the country. The case had been brought by a taxi association alleging that Uber and its drivers violated regulations governing transport orders. To operate as it does, the court held, Uber would need to be licensed [...]

In its last vote of the year, the US House of Representatives voted 385-41 Thursday to pass Trump’s revised North American trade agreement. The new agreement, called the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), will replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) if the Senate approves it. The trade agreement has come through the House of Representatives [...]

The European Court of Justice ruled Thursday that airlines may be liable to harm caused by hot coffee. The case relates to an incident that occurred in 2015 when a 6-year-old girl was burned on a flight after her father’s hot coffee spilled onto her. The actual cause of the spill remains unknown. The airline, [...]

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled Thursday that children who were born in Toronto to Russian spies are Canadian citizens. The case arose out of one of the children’s attempts to renew his Canadian passport after his parents were arrested “and were returned to Russia” in 2010. After his parents’ arrest, his “attempts to renew [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled Wednesday that the incidental collection of communications without a warrant is permissible. The case arose when the defendant-appellant was arrested for “attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization.” After his prosecution, the government disclosed that some of the evidence that they had found [...]

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled Thursday that under an EU directive governing electronic commerce, Airbnb must be classified as an “information society service,” not a real estate agent. Following a complaint by a hotel and tourism trade group, French authorities had tried to classify Airbnb so that it would be subject to real [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Wednesday ruled the individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is unconstitutional but declined to strike down the entire law. Instead, the 2-1 ruling remanded the question of severability (whether the ACA can remain legal without the individual mandate) back to the original district [...]

A Justice of the Peace in McLennon County Texas, Diane Hensley, filed a suit against the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct after they released a public warning condemning her “referral system” for officiating same-sex marriages. The warning, released last month, claims that Hensley is in violation of Canon 4A(1) of the Texas Code of [...]

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the federal government is entitled to proceeds from former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden’s new memoir and several speeches because he did not submit the material to federal agencies in advance. Snowden formerly worked as a contract employee of both the Central Intelligence (CIA) Agency and the National Security Agency [...]