Cybersecurity & Privacy

  • April 19, 2024

    Edelson Pitches 'Better Way' To Pick Leads In Privacy Suits

    Plaintiffs in proposed privacy class actions should be given more say in who's picked as class counsel, in order to crack down on the "anemic settlements" that have resulted from the ineffective "old way of litigating" these matters, law firm Edelson PC argued in vying for lead counsel in a dispute over a data breach at genetics testing provider 23andMe.

  • April 19, 2024

    Meta Faces Uphill Fight To Nix AG Claims In Addiction MDL

    A California judge expressed skepticism Friday over Meta's bid to ax the claims of 34 state attorneys general from multidistrict litigation over social media platforms' allegedly addictive design, saying Meta and its co-defendants haven't been transparent about how their platforms work, and it's plausible the states can obtain psychiatric treatment receipts to show economic injuries.

  • April 19, 2024

    Don't Let The Rush Into AI Create Risk Blind Spots, Cos. Told

    As corporations increasingly adopt artificial intelligence capabilities into their workflows, they should also implement guardrails to stave off major risks the rapidly evolving technology poses, lawyers said during a New York City Bar panel discussion Friday.

  • April 19, 2024

    TCPA Only Protects Consumers, Fax Co. Worker Says

    One fax services company can't sue another for carrying out what it says is "possibly the largest junk fax operation in the United States" because it doesn't count as a consumer under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, an employee of the company being sued has told a Colorado federal court.

  • April 19, 2024

    AI Image Cos. Say Artists Offer Little Proof In Copyright Case

    Four companies that make or distribute artificial intelligence software that creates art through prompts have told a California federal court that a proposed class action from artists must end, arguing the plaintiffs still have not shown proof that any of the businesses infringed or induced infringement of copyrighted works.

  • April 19, 2024

    Northshore Health Worker Drops Genetic Info Privacy Claims

    A patient sitter for Northwestern HealthSystem has voluntarily dropped her proposed class suit claiming she and other workers were unlawfully required to give up information about their medical histories during the application process.

  • April 18, 2024

    Google Judge Notes Broad Reach Of Texas Ad Tech Claims

    A Texas federal judge pressed Google during oral arguments Thursday to explain why a coalition of state attorneys general can't sue over its dominance in advertising placement auction technology when they're representing not just companies suing separately, but consumers as well.

  • April 18, 2024

    DOJ Tries To Quell Lawmakers' Concerns On FISA Bill

    The U.S. Department of Justice is looking to allay privacy concerns on Capitol Hill raised over the proposed reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, telling Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., and others in recent letters that domestic churches and media companies can't be targeted under a controversial amendment.

  • April 18, 2024

    Cybersecurity Startup Loses 2 Patents At PTAB

    A small cybersecurity startup litigating in Virginia federal court against larger tech companies has failed to persuade the Patent Trial and Appeal Board not to invalidate the entirety of two patents covering ways of combating "evolving" online threats, among other things.

  • April 18, 2024

    FCC Probing Causes Of 911 Outage Across Four States

    The Federal Communications Commission said Thursday it will investigate what caused widespread 911 outages in Nevada, Texas, South Dakota and Nebraska.

  • April 18, 2024

    3rd Circ. Unclear If 'Session Replay' Web Code Directed At Pa.

    A Third Circuit panel seemed torn Thursday over whether websites like those of Papa John's or Mattress Firm "directed conduct" at Pennsylvania when they ran "session replay" software to track users' visits and whether that gave courts in the Keystone State jurisdiction over users' claims that such tracking violated laws against wiretapping.

  • April 18, 2024

    $550K Fingerprint BIPA Deal Receives Ill. Judge's Initial OK

    An Illinois federal judge gave his early blessing Wednesday to a nearly $550,000 settlement between global food supplier Rich Products Corp. and hundreds of current and former employees who claimed the company illegally collected and used their scanned fingerprint data.

  • April 18, 2024

    Patient Data Breach Suit Should Be Tossed, Colo. Judge Says

    A judge has recommended that CommonSpirit Health be allowed to escape a proposed class action in Colorado federal court accusing it of failing to secure healthcare data leading to a breach affecting more than 600,000 patients, saying the complaint fails to "allege an injury-in-fact."

  • April 18, 2024

    Former NetApp, Xerox Lawyer Joins McGuireWoods In NY

    McGuireWoods LLP has hired the former in-house counsel of two Fortune 500 tech companies as a corporate technology and outsourcing team partner in New York, the firm said Thursday.

  • April 18, 2024

    Feds Seek Prison For Threats To China Democracy Activist

    Boston federal prosecutors want a Chinese national to serve nearly three years in prison for enlisting in the People's Republic of China's "network of censorship and repression" by threatening a former Berklee College of Music student for posting a pro-democracy flier on the school's campus.

  • April 18, 2024

    Ex-BigLaw Atty Can't Get Stalking Injunction Against Influencer

    A Florida state judge on Wednesday denied a former Greenberg Traurig LLP partner's request for a cyberstalking injunction against a social media influencer, saying the petitioner did not show enough evidence to justify it.

  • April 18, 2024

    Crypto Trader Convicted Of $110M Mango Markets Scam

    A Manhattan federal jury found a cryptocurrency trader guilty Thursday of illegally taking $110 million out of Mango Markets by inflating the value of its tokens, then borrowing against that valuation to suck money out of the decentralized exchange.

  • April 17, 2024

    House Sends Bill To Close Data Warrant 'Loophole' To Senate

    The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday narrowly advanced bipartisan legislation that would ban federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies from purchasing from data brokers personal information about Americans that they would otherwise need a warrant to obtain, despite the White House voicing opposition to the measure. 

  • April 17, 2024

    New TikTok Bill Gives More Time For Divestment

    A bill requiring ByteDance Ltd. to divest TikTok or face a ban in the U.S. was included in the package of national security bills House Republicans introduced on Wednesday, which gives a longer runway to sell the app than the one the House previously passed in March.

  • April 17, 2024

    'Fired Up': House Leaders Say Data Privacy Law Top Priority

    House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders said Wednesday that they are "fired up" to finally push long-running efforts to enact a federal data privacy framework across the finish line, although concerns about the scope of the proposal and desires to enhance digital safeguards for children threaten to derail this momentum. 

  • April 17, 2024

    ISPs Seek Clearer Preemption In Feds' Net Neutrality Draft

    With the Federal Communications Commission set to vote on net neutrality rules later this month, internet service providers are hoping the agency will clarify exactly how its orders trump state regulations on ISP conduct.

  • April 17, 2024

    Senate Scorn Suggests Election Strife For Biden On Trade

    Two White House announcements on Wednesday aimed at girding the U.S. industrial sector against Chinese competition did little to quell senators' frustrations over President Joe Biden's resolve to tackle unfair trade practices, adding pressure to Biden's reelection bid.

  • April 17, 2024

    Tinder, Hinge Seek Arb. In 'Preposterous' Addictive Apps Suit

    Allegations that the Tinder and Hinge dating apps are addictive and lead to compulsive use are "preposterous," Match Group told a California federal judge, arguing that not only are the claims baseless, but the consumers bringing them all signed arbitration agreements when they signed up for accounts.

  • April 17, 2024

    Clarify DMCA Carveout For AI Research, DOJ Says

    The U.S. Department of Justice is showing some support for a proposal that could allow researchers looking into biases in artificial intelligence programming to bypass laws that limit access to copyright-protected AI models.

  • April 17, 2024

    First-Of-Its-Kind Brain Data Privacy Bill Passes In Colo.

    Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Wednesday signed a bipartisan bill to protect the privacy of individuals' brain activity, marking the first time in the United States that a law expands the definition of "sensitive data" to include biological and neural data.

Expert Analysis

  • SAG-AFTRA Contract Is A Landmark For AI And IP Interplay

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    SAG-AFTRA's recently ratified contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers introduced a framework to safeguard performers' intellectual property rights and set the stage for future discussions on how those rights interact with artificial intelligence — which should put entertainment businesses on alert for compliance, says Evynne Grover at QBE.

  • FTC AI Inquiry Signals Intensified Focus On Emerging Tech

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    The Federal Trade Commission's recent inquiry into investments and partnerships between Big Tech companies and artificial intelligence startups appears to be directed at guiding future enforcement decisions in competition, privacy and consumer protection — and three principles discussed at a related tech summit give insight on the agency's approach, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Reimagining Law Firm Culture To Break The Cycle Of Burnout

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    While attorney burnout remains a perennial issue in the legal profession, shifting post-pandemic expectations mean that law firms must adapt their office cultures to retain talent, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.

  • Amazon's €32M Data Protection Fine Acts As Employer Caveat

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    The recent decision by French data privacy regulator CNIL to fine Amazon for excessive surveillance of its workers opens up a raft of potential employment law, data protection and breach of contract issues, and offers a clear warning that companies need coherent justification for monitoring employees, say Robert Smedley and William Richmond-Coggan at Freeths.

  • Series

    Competing In Dressage Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My lifelong participation in the sport of dressage — often called ballet on horses — has proven that several skills developed through training and competition are transferable to legal work, especially the ability to harness focus, persistence and versatility when negotiating a deal, says Stephanie Coco at V&E.

  • Potential Defendant Strategies Amid Calif. Privacy Questions

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    Although the current case law surrounding the California Consumer Privacy Act is in its infancy, courts have begun addressing important issues related to the notice-and-cure provisions of the statute, and these decisions show defendant-businesses would be wise to assert their notice rights early and repeatedly, say Viola Trebicka and Dan Humphrey at Quinn Emanuel.

  • Legal Issues Loom For Driverless Trucking

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    Companies' recent experiments with driverless trucking technology herald a transformation of the logistics sector — but stakeholders must reckon with increasing regulatory scrutiny, emerging liability issues, and concerns around ethical guidelines, insurance and standardization, say Zal Phiroz at Pier Consulting Group and Nicolas Bezada at Unishippers.

  • The Double-Edged Sword Of Biometrics In Financial Services

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    Financial institutions are increasingly turning to biometrics for identity verification and fraud prevention, and while there are many benefits to such features, banks must remain vigilant against growing AI technologies that could make users' information vulnerable to biometrics hackers, say Elizabeth Roper at Baker McKenzie and Chris Allgrove at Ingenium Biometric Laboratories.

  • How 2 CFPB Advisory Opinions Affect Reporting Agencies

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    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued two advisory opinions last month that demonstrate a continued commitment to address inaccuracies in background check reports and consumer file disclosures through broad interpretation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, expanding on a coordinated federal agency effort, say attorneys at Cooley.

  • A Close Look At The FCC's Revised SIM Card Fraud Rules

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    Carolyn Mahoney and John Seiver at Davis Wright break down recently proposed revisions to the Federal Communications Commission's customer proprietary network information and local number portability rules for wireless providers, discuss the revisions' implications on artificial intelligence regulation, and provide tips to prevent SIM swap and port-out fraud.

  • What Retailers Should Note In Calif. Web Tracking Suits

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    As retailers face a deluge of class actions alleging the use of conventional web analytic tools violate wiretapping and eavesdropping provisions of the California Invasion of Privacy Act, uncovering the path toward a narrow interpretation of the law will largely depend on how these cases proceed, say Matthew Pearson and Kareem Salem at BakerHostetler.

  • Copyright Lessons Following Ruling In Artist AI Suit

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    The recent California district court ruling in Andersen v. Stability AI — that artists needed to specify how the training of artificial intelligence tools violated their copyrights — shows that lawyers on either side of generative AI matters must carefully navigate copyright issues including temporary copying and data sourcing, says Carlos Araya at Magnolia Abogados.

  • The Legal Industry Needs A Cybersecurity Paradigm Shift

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    As law firms face ever-increasing risks of cyberattacks and ransomware incidents, the legal industry must implement robust cybersecurity measures and privacy-centric practices to preserve attorney-client privilege, safeguard client trust and uphold the profession’s integrity, says Ryan Paterson at Unplugged.

  • 5 Reasons Associates Shouldn't Take A Job Just For Money

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    As a number of BigLaw firms increase salary scales for early-career attorneys, law students and lateral associates considering new job offers should weigh several key factors that may matter more than financial compensation, say Albert Tawil at Lateral Hub and Ruvin Levavi at Power Forward.

  • SEC Registrants Likely Won't Get Cyber Disclosure Delays

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's sweeping cybersecurity disclosure final rules, its SolarWinds enforcement action and recent U.S. Department of Justice guidance show the pressure is on registrants to disclose incidents timely and accurately, but the circumstances in which an extension will be granted are extremely rare, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

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