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from the we-need-a-Snapchat-filter-filter dept.
A judge in the U.S. state of Georgia has dismissed a lawsuit against Snapchat Inc. (also known as Snap, Inc.) regarding its eponymous photo and video sharing app. The plaintiffs, who were injured in a two-car crash, claimed that the driver of the other car, in the words of CBS News,
[...] was trying to reach 100 mph on a highway south of Atlanta when her car hit theirs [...]
[...] while [she was] using a Snapchat filter that puts the rate at which a vehicle is traveling over an image.
The judge cited (Wikipedia link added by submitter)
[...] the immunity clause of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which says, “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.”
As reported by WGCL-TV, a CBS affiliate in Atlanta, a motion filed by the company (PDF) asserted that the driver whose car collided with the plaintiffs' car "was not using the Snapchat application at the time of the collision" (quoted from the court filing, with emphasis removed).
Additional coverage:
- CBS Local Media
- Associated Press via WYFF-TV
- Associated Press via Insurance Journal (different AP story)
- WHJL-TV and Associated Press
Related stories:
The Company Formerly Known as Snapchat may be Worth $25 Billion
Goodbye Snapchat, Hello Snap Inc
(Score: 2) by NewNic on Friday January 27 2017, @09:45PM
And there is the real problem: ludicrously low requirements on liability coverage in most states.
In the UK, traditionally, policies had no limit, but now it's commonly limited to £20M for damage to property, following a £22M claim due to the Great Heck rail crash. [wikipedia.org] Policies still usually have no limit for injury and death claims.
lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday January 27 2017, @10:52PM
I remember hearing about that crash, and wondering how far I'd roll my eyes if that amount of worst-case coincidences were in a Hollywood movie.
For those who didn't read the wiki link:
- tired guy swerves of the highway with his car+trailer as he was approaching a bridge over tracks
- he misses the hard rail, goes down the embankment through a wooden fence
- car, which is a Land Rover, won't move off the tracks. Guy gets out, calls the cops immediately
- commuter train arrives right then, hits the car, derails but stays upright
- coal train coming the other way slams into derailed commuter train, killing 10 and injuring 82
The story doesn't say if he ever bought a lottery ticket.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Friday January 27 2017, @11:03PM
The entire time reading that I was imagining Scrat from Ice Age. It escalates quickly.
Only thing missing is a fireball taking out a hovering helicopter.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.