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Have you ever googled yourself? Did you find anything disconcerting? Do you wish you could do something about it? That is how Colin O’Kroley felt when he saw his name associated with a child indecency case in a Google search. He sued Google and other defendants for $19 trillion, claiming “severe mental anguish” from the listing. A federal appeals court this month rejected O’Kroley’s claim. Although the plaintiff really wasn’t involved in the indecency case, reports the American Bar Association Journal, the search engine is protected by the Communications Decency Act....

A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction on Wednesday blocking Florida’s doctor gun law, which effectively bans doctors from asking patients about gun use and firearm safety. As exhibited by its official name (Firearm Owners’ Privacy Act), legislators passed the law in a bid to protect gun-owning patients from what they believe to be an invasion of privacy. The court disagreed, finding the law to be an invasion of doctors’ and patients’ right to free speech....

While it rarely comes as a surprise to learn that college students experiment with drugs, some might be surprised to learn that many of these experimenting students are experimenting with drugs to help them actually study. Certain drugs, like Adderall, Ritalin, and Vyvanse are commonly referred to as “study drugs” as these help individuals focus and stay focused. What may even be more shocking is that as a result of the popularity of the study drugs, students that have prescriptions for these medications can expect to be asked to share or sell their medication by friends and other students seeking a boost in their focus....

James Washington suffered a heart attack in prison in 2009 and thought he was dying. So he made a jailhouse confession thinking he would escape the statute of limitations. The problem for Washington: He lived through the heart attack. On his way to the hospital, Washington told a transport guard that he’d killed someone. He specifically mentioned that he “beat her to death.” That was enough for prosecutors to link him to a cold case murder from 1995....

Missing a court date is never a good idea, especially in a DUI case. So what should you do if you miss your DUI court date? Regardless of what point your DUI case is in the criminal system, you need to contact your attorney if you missed a court date. Your attorney can tell you whether the court date you missed actually required your appearance, as well as what your attorney can do to remedy it....

This week is National Police Week, and we want you deal with police in a legal, yet legally savvy, way. We all know that a police officer’s sworn duty is to protect and serve the public. Still, having an officer stop you on the street, pull you over on the road, or ask you a simple question can be nerve-wracking, even when you haven’t done anything wrong. Police are not required to tell you the best way to interact with officers, so we will....

Are police-civilian shootings happening more often, or do we just hear about them more now because of news and social media? On March 6, 2015, police responded to several 911 calls reporting that a man was acting erratic and hurting people. Once they arrived on the scene, they found 19 year old Tony Terrell Robinson Jr., a biracial man, reportedly acting violently. Officer Matt Kenny, who is white, engaged in an altercation with Robinson, and in the melee, Kenny fatally shot him....

The Supreme Court has deemed illegal a video game law targeting violent video games. The California ban, passed in 2005, made it illegal to sell or rent “violent video games” to minors under the age of 18. A “violent video game” was a game that depicts “killing, maiming, dismembering, or sexually assaulting an image of a human being” such that a reasonable person would find it would be deviant or morbid to minors, is patently offensive in the prevailing community, and does not have any serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value to children, reports USA Today....

October is National Crime Prevention Month, a time to educate the public on the importance of crime prevention, and an opportunity to pay special attention to crime prevention efforts and resources on both the national and state levels. The following links from the National Crime Prevention Council and from FindLaw for the Public’s Criminal Law Center provide more information on National Crime Prevention Month and crime prevention. National Crime Prevention Month (National Crime Prevention Council) Crime Prevention Games and Tips for Children (McGruff....

The Federal Communications Commission decided to cap the cost of prison calls. This is good news for prisoners and their families and bad news for phone companies that make a fortune connecting inmates with the outside world. Two years ago authorities approved a cap that helped significantly reduce rates by a quarter to a half. But talking to an inmate can still be a serious financial drain. Last week, FCC authorities voted to cap prison phone rates at 11 cents a minute and minimize transaction fees....

While thousands of children flying alone are making their way across the country in the next few months, somewhere on the ground they will be matched by thousands of fretting parents. Every summer there’s at least one story about an unaccompanied minor wandering off of an airplane or exploring an unknown airport, but the fact is that the number of incidents concerning children flying alone is minimal. Even so, for peace of mind and safety, there are a few things you can do to make a solo flight go smoother–for both you and your child....

Are football helmets safe? New Mexico Senator Tom Udall wants to know. Citing the estimated 100,000 concussions in high school football each season, Udall is calling for a football helmet review. Udall suspects that the helmets could be the culprit and wants to protect high school players from long-term brain damage. Many suspect that several hundreds of thousands of concussions go unreported or are not recognized each year. But is the problem the helmet or the way it is used?...

Imagine you live somewhere far from traditional services, and have a sick pet. And imagine there is an experienced veterinarian – one that had received a Health Service Commendation Medal from the Surgeon of the United States, in fact – available to answer your questions about your sick pet online. That’s pretty great, right? Now imagine that the Texas State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners says this vet’s advice is illegal, suspended his license, and fines him $500....

As you probably know, 2014 was a big year for consumer protection legal stories. From wide-reaching recalls to an uptick in the number of online scams being perpetrated by internet criminals, there were a number of news stories that hit home for consumers concerned with protecting their finances, privacy, and safety. And FindLaw’s Common Law covered it all. What were this year’s most popular Common Law blog posts? Here are the Top 10:...

Maybe you heard about a famous athlete getting a suspended sentence, or you or someone you know has been offered one as a plea bargain. But what is a suspended sentence and how does it work? While sentencing rules vary by jurisdiction, judges often have significant leeway in sentencing, and may suspend a sentence in certain cases. Let’s take a look at what this means and how it works in practice....

Welcome to FindLaw’s DUI Law series. If you have been charged with a DUI, know someone who has, or just want to know about the law and how to protect your rights during a DUI stop, please come back each week for more information. You might’ve had the thought before: “Sure, I got a DUI once in North Carolina, but how are the cops in Arizona going to know?” Or you thought, “I just got a DUI on vacation in Florida, but I live in South Dakota so the ticket won’t follow me home, right?...

Simply stated, a keylogger is a piece of hardware or software that logs every single keystroke made on a computer’s keyboard. Basically, it’s an invisible set of eyes watching and recording every single press of a key on a keyboard. The use of keyloggers has been portrayed in television and movies as an easy way for hackers to steal usable information. In real life, hackers use keylogging to steal account numbers, usernames, passwords, financial information, ATM pin codes, and more....

Kanye West has made a name for himself saying and doing outrageous things. Shortly after he announced that he was a proud non-reader, he released a book. After his first Paris runway show was panned, he said the French did not know fashion. And now that his sneaker deal with Nike has gone down the drain, Kanye is making claims about the company that some suspect will lead to a lawsuit, reports Details....

Looks like Justin Bieber’s squeaky-clean image is falling apart, especially given the pictures that indicate the teen pop sensation was (gasp!) smoking pot. Photographs of Bieber at a hotel-room party last week shows the Biebs sitting around with some friends and a few empty beer bottles. Keep in mind that Bieber is only 18, and the pictures were reportedly taken in Newport Beach, California, where the legal drinking age is 21....

Unfaithful men often fear their wives will find out about their womanizing ways. They fear with good reason. Case in point: Colene Barker. The 35-year-old Arizona woman ran over her cheating husband with her car after an argument. She first struck her husband’s car twice. Then she turned her vehicle toward him. She ran him over, knocking him to the ground. She then drove over both his legs. Barker wasn’t done....