Professor Chander Comments on Supreme Court Case for Southern California Public Radio

Professor Anupam Chander commented for Southern California Public Radio station KPCC on Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, the U.S. Supreme Court case concerning a claim by a Virginia man that an online "people search engine" published inaccurate information about him that harmed his employment prospects.

"Mr. Robbins is suing because he claims the company violated the 1970 statute called the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which requires companies to follow reasonable procedures to maximize the accuracy of their information," Chander explained.  "He's saying they didn't follow those procedures, resulting in inaccurate information.  The question in the case the Court is going to decide is whether he has to demonstrate something more of an actual personal injury before he can bring a claim under that statute."

The case has broad implications for a variety of online businesses, including media companies, and has "divided the country," Chander said.

Professor Chander, a leading scholar of international economic law and cyberlaw, is the author of The Electronic Silk Road: How the Web Binds the World in Commerce, published in 2013 by Yale University Press. His scholarly papers can be accessed via his Social Science Research Network author page.

KPCC: "SCOTUS and online searches"

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