The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has ruled that the act of "liking" a Facebook page carries constitutional protection. The appeals court on September 18 revived claims against a Virginia sheriff who didn't reappoint a group of employees who supported a rival candidate for office. "On the most basic level, clicking on the 'like' button literally causes to be published the statement that the user 'likes' something, which is itself a substantive statement," Chief Judge William Traxler Jr. wrote. That made it "pure speech" and "symbolic expression."
JPMORGAN FESSES UP
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators have wrested a $920 million fine and an admission of wrongdoing from JPMorgan Chase & Co. over last year’s “London Whale” trading debacle, which cost the bank more than $6 billion in losses. Wall Street critics were pleased to see JPMorgan admit in the September 19 deal that a breakdown in controls and leadership caused the losses, but the SEC still came under fire for accepting a carefully worded admission and for letting high-ranking executives off the hook.
