Cybersecurity & Privacy

  • February 19, 2026

    Apple Knowingly Hosts Child Porn On ICloud, W.Va. AG Says

    Apple knowingly allows child sexual abuse material to be stored and distributed on its iCloud platform, West Virginia's attorney general alleged Thursday in what he called a first-of-its-kind lawsuit, saying the tech giant's "privacy" brand provides cover for a defective product that violates state consumer protection law. 

  • February 19, 2026

    Cisco Warns Justices Of 'Serious Risks' In China Torture Case

    Cisco has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to toss a suit alleging that the tech company aided the Chinese government's allegedly unlawful torture of Falun Gong members, saying a green light would pose "serious risks" to foreign relations and foreign policy.

  • February 19, 2026

    FCC Floats Nearly $200K Fine On Dahua For Late Filing

    The Federal Communications Commission will seek an almost $200,000 fine against Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co. for allegedly failing to file paperwork detailing its subsidiaries and affiliates going back three years under a U.S. national security program.

  • February 19, 2026

    Mich. Panel Orders Hearing Over GPS Data In Shooting Case

    A Michigan state appeals court has ordered a new evidentiary hearing to decide if a man on an ankle monitor had his rights violated when Detroit police used the monitor's data to track him down even though the underlying case requiring it had been dismissed.

  • February 19, 2026

    Amazon Throwing Out Tech Intercom Not Sanctionable: Judge

    While Amazon.com Inc. was negligent in allowing a consulting engineer to throw out an advanced intercom at the center of a trade secrets and unauthorized computer access proposed class action, a New York federal magistrate judge said Wednesday that doing so didn't cost the intercom's maker any relevant evidence.

  • February 19, 2026

    Court Won't Seal FBI Documents In UM Coach Hacking Case

    A Michigan federal judge on Thursday ordered a former University of Michigan assistant football coach accused of hacking female college students' accounts to file public copies of a pair of FBI documents that both the coach and federal prosecutors wanted sealed.

  • February 19, 2026

    Coalition Asks Court To Back Probe Into IRS-ICE Data Sharing

    More discovery is needed into the IRS' data-sharing agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in light of the tax authority recently admitting to breaching its terms, a coalition challenging the agreement told a D.C. federal court in seeking a remand.

  • February 19, 2026

    Conn. Medical Office Faces 3 'Insomnia' Data Breach Suits

    A Connecticut medical practice failed to secure its patients' and employees' private information ahead of a ransomware attack that likely affected thousands of people, then flouted its duty to provide the victims with proper notice, according to three proposed class actions filed in the past week.

  • February 19, 2026

    'Think Carefully': Judge Wary Of Notice Tactic In Google Deal

    A California federal judge indicated on Thursday that he will grant preliminary approval to Google's $8.25 million settlement to resolve putative class allegations that Google surreptitiously tracked children online for advertising, while urging counsel to "think carefully" about using behavioral tracking in future settlements to post advertisements notifying class members.

  • February 19, 2026

    TD Garden Owners Say Pot Shops Copying Name

    The company that owns Boston sports and entertainment venue TD Garden says a cannabis retail chain is infringing its trademarks by doing business as "The Boston Garden Dispensary," in an infringement lawsuit filed on Wednesday in Massachusetts federal court.

  • February 18, 2026

    Genetic Testing Co.'s Acquisition Draws Privacy Suit

    Healthcare technology company Tempus AI illegally compelled a genetic testing company to disclose its "massive trove" of genetic data through acquisition and then further disclosed affected individuals' private data to other companies without consent, an Illinois mother told a federal court.

  • February 18, 2026

    Smith & Wesson Gets Suit Over Tracking Cookies Pared Down

    A California federal judge has cut state wiretap law and several other claims from a proposed class action accusing Smith & Wesson of illegally gathering browsing data from website visitors who rejected the use of tracking cookies, while preserving allegations that the firearm manufacturer facilitated third parties' privacy intrusions.

  • February 18, 2026

    Zuckerberg Testifies That Social Media Doesn't Harm Teens

    Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the stand Wednesday in a landmark California bellwether trial on claims his company and Google's YouTube harm children's mental health, saying the current scientific literature shows no causal link between social media and teens' mental health.

  • February 18, 2026

    'Flawed' Ruling Let SEC Hide Breach Records, DC Circ. Told

    The New Civil Liberties Alliance has told the D.C. Circuit that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission should have to turn over documents related to an internal information breach, arguing a lower court improperly allowed the agency to exempt documents from a Freedom of Information Act request.

  • February 18, 2026

    Reddit Must Face Privacy Suit Over LiveRamp Tracker

    Reddit lost its bid to nix a proposed class action alleging the social media platform violated a California privacy statute by placing a LiveRamp tracker on its website to gather visitor information for targeted advertising, after a federal judge ruled Tuesday that the tracker is plausibly a "pen register" under state law.

  • February 18, 2026

    DOJ Allowed To Dictate Pay, Term Of Google Search Watchers

    A D.C. federal judge sided with the U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday regarding the key terms of service for the five-member technical committee tasked with observing Google's compliance with mandates to prop up rival search engines with search results and data.

  • February 18, 2026

    Illinois' Pritzker Proposes Social Media Tax To Fund Education

    Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker proposed Wednesday that the state levy a new tax on social media companies with at least 100,000 users in the state and direct the money raised to education as part of a $56 billion budget plan he unveiled for fiscal 2027.

  • February 18, 2026

    TP-Link Misrepresents Its Chinese Affiliations, Texas AG Says

    Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has hauled TP-Link Systems into state court for allegedly deceiving consumers by claiming its networking devices are "Made in Vietnam" when nearly all components are imported from China, leaving them vulnerable to Chinese state-sponsored hackers, according to an announcement issued Tuesday.

  • February 18, 2026

    Meta Pixel Tracking Suit Tossed Over Lack Of Standing

    A North Carolina federal judge has ruled that a prospective class of Nurse.com users lacked standing to sue the website's operator for Video Privacy Protection Act violations for allegedly sharing customers' information with Meta Platforms Inc. without permission.

  • February 18, 2026

    Texas AG Sues Drone-Maker Over Alleged Ties To Chinese Co.

    Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued a Texas drone-maker, accusing it of selling rebranded DJI drones and posing national security risks given DJI's links to the Chinese Communist Party.

  • February 18, 2026

    Trump Opposes Stay In Mar-A-Lago Case During Appeal

    President Donald Trump and his former co-defendants in the criminal case over his handling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago registered their opposition Wednesday in Florida federal court to pausing the case while two nonprofit groups appeal the denial of their request to release the final report from former special counsel Jack Smith.

  • February 18, 2026

    Indiana Firm Sues Quintairos Prieto Over 'Mass Exodus'

    Indiana-based Kopka Pinkus Dolin PC has alleged a former employee helped conspire with her new employer Quintairos Prieto Wood & Boyer PA and two former shareholders to cause a "mass exodus" of attorneys that led to the eventual shutdown of one of the insurance firm's offices.

  • February 18, 2026

    Neutrogena Paying $4.7M To Settle BIPA Suit Over App

    A former Johnson & Johnson subsidiary has agreed to pay $4.7 million to settle a potential class action claiming it unlawfully stored and collected facial scans of people who used its Neutrogena Skin360 tool, according to a filing in New Jersey federal court.

  • February 18, 2026

    IRS Asks Court To Deny Probe Of Improper ICE Data-Sharing

    A coalition suing the IRS over its data-sharing deal with immigration enforcement authorities should not be allowed to investigate the agency's revelation that it shared some data improperly, the IRS told a D.C. federal court, saying it made the admission "in good faith."

  • February 18, 2026

    No Jurisdiction In Judicial Privacy Law Suits, NJ Court Told

    Five data companies said Wednesday that a New Jersey federal court should toss suits alleging they violated the Garden State's judicial privacy law, arguing that they have no presence in the state and do not have enough contacts with it.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Writing Novels Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Writing my debut novel taught me to appreciate the value of critique and to never give up, no matter how long or tedious the journey, providing me with valuable skills that I now emphasize in my practice, says Daniel Buzzetta at BakerHostetler.

  • SDNY OpenAI Order Clarifies Preservation Standards For AI

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    The Southern District of New York’s recent order in the OpenAI copyright infringement litigation, denying discovery of The New York Times' artificial intelligence technology use, clarifies that traditional preservation benchmarks apply to AI content, relieving organizations from using a “keep everything” approach, says Philip Favro at Favro Law.

  • Addressing Legal Risks Of AI In The Homebuilding Industry

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    Artificial intelligence is transforming the homebuilding industry, but the legal challenges posed by its adoption spread across many areas, including contractual liability and intellectual property issues, so builders should adopt strategies to mitigate the risks and position themselves for success, says Philip Stein at Bilzin Sumberg.

  • Cybersecurity Rule For DOD Contractors Creates New Risks

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    A rule locking in the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification system for defense contractors increases False Claims Act and criminal enforcement risks by narrowing a key exemption and mandating affirmations of past compliance, which may discourage new companies from entering the defense contracting market, say attorneys at Haynes Boone.

  • Compliance Steps To Take As FCRA Enforcement Widens

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    As the Fair Credit Reporting Act receives renewed focus from both federal and state enforcers, regulatory and litigation risk is most acute in several core areas, which companies can address by implementing purpose processes and quick remediation of consumer complaints, among other steps, say attorneys at Wiley.

  • Assessing The Future Of The HIPAA Reproductive Health Rule

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    In light of a Texas federal court's recent decision to strike down a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services rule aimed to protect the privacy of patients seeking abortions and gender-affirming care, entities are at least temporarily relieved from compliance obligations, but tensions are likely to continue for the foreseeable future, says Liz Heddleston at Woods Rogers.

  • Opinion

    Expert Reports Can't Replace Facts In Securities Fraud Cases

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    The Ninth Circuit's 2023 decision in Nvidia v. Ohman Fonder — and the U.S. Supreme Court's punt on the case in 2024 — could invite the meritless securities litigation the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act was designed to prevent by substituting expert opinions for facts to substantiate complaint assertions, say attorneys at A&O Shearman.

  • Glimmers Of Clarity Appear Amid Open Banking Disarray

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    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's vacillation over data rights rules has created uncertainty, but a recent proposal is a strong signal that open banking regulations are here to stay, making now the ideal time for entities to take action to decrease compliance risk, says Adam Maarec at McGlinchey Stafford.

  • Opinion

    High Court, Not A Single Justice, Should Decide On Recusal

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    As public trust in the U.S. Supreme Court continues to decline, the court should adopt a collegial framework in which all justices decide questions of recusal together — a reform that respects both judicial independence and due process for litigants, say Michael Broyde at Emory University and Hayden Hall at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

  • FTC's Consumer Finance Pivot Brings Industry Pros And Cons

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    An active Federal Trade Commission against the backdrop of a leashed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will be welcomed by most in the consumer finance industry, but the incremental expansion of the FTC's authority via enforcement actions remains a risk, say attorneys at Hudson Cook.

  • How A New BIS Rule Greatly Expands Export Restrictions

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    The newly effective affiliates rule from the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security restricts exports to foreign companies that are 50% or more owned by entities listed on the BIS entity list and the military end-user list — a major shift in U.S. export control enforcement, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • 3 New Cyberinsurance Rulings Aid In Policy Interpretation

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    Although the cyberinsurance market has exploded, there is no standardized cyber language or form and only a few court decisions thus far interpreting cyberinsurance policy language, making these three recent rulings key for guiding policyholders, insurers and brokers, say attorneys at Haynes Boone.

  • Series

    Traveling Solo Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Traveling by myself has taught me to assess risk, understand tone and stay calm in high-pressure situations, which are not only useful life skills, but the foundation of how I support my clients, says Lacey Gutierrez at Group Five Legal.

  • New Health AI Guidance Features A Provider-Centric Approach

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    New guidance from the Joint Commission and Coalition for Health AI regarding the responsible use of artificial intelligence in healthcare deviates from preexisting guidance by recommending a comprehensive framework for using AI tools, focusing on healthcare provider organizations rather than on AI developers, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • NY Zelle Suit Highlights Fraud Risks Of Electronic Payments

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    The New York attorney general's recent action against Zelle's parent company, filed several months after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau abandoned a similar suit, demonstrates the fraud risks that electronic payment platforms can present and the need for providers to carefully balance accessibility and consumer protection, say attorneys at Weiner Brodsky.

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