Cybersecurity & Privacy

  • April 22, 2024

    Amazon Illegally Gathered Workers' Face Scans, Suit Says

    Amazon.com Services faces a proposed class action filed Monday in Illinois federal court accusing the retail giant of gathering employees' facial geometry scans and sharing them with various third parties without first receiving the employees' written consent in violation of the Illinois Biometric Privacy Act.

  • April 22, 2024

    Hedge Funder's IRS Suit Over Leaked Tax Info Gets Trimmed

    A Florida federal judge on Monday dismissed part of a hedge fund executive's case seeking to hold the Internal Revenue Service accountable for a leak of his private tax data to the media, saying he failed to show he suffered any damages.

  • April 22, 2024

    Conn. Lawmaker Wants To Allow Suits For AI Discrimination

    Connecticut citizens should be able to bring private lawsuits if an artificial intelligence system discriminates against them, a key lawmaker said Monday as the state's judiciary committee voted to advance a bill regulating the use of AI programs that can make significant decisions for consumers in the state.

  • April 22, 2024

    Palo Alto Networks Execs Face Suit Over Misleading Outlook

    Executives and directors of cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks have been hit with a shareholder derivative suit in California federal court alleging they misled investors about the success of its platform consolidation strategy, which was expected to result in lucrative government contracts.

  • April 22, 2024

    Congress Can Enact Corp. Transparency, Orgs Tell 11th Circ.

    Congress is empowered to require American companies to report their beneficial owners to the federal government because there is ample evidence they've previously been used to fund hostile foreign actors, evade sanctions and traffic drugs, two think tanks told the Eleventh Circuit in an amici brief.

  • April 22, 2024

    GM, Others Sued For Sharing Driver Data With Insurers

    Two New Jersey drivers say they saw increases in their insurance premiums after General Motors and its OnStar unit allegedly used apps installed in their vehicles to illegally share driver data with consumer reporting agencies and insurance carriers without their consent.

  • April 22, 2024

    Google Faces Sanctions Bid Over Alleged Data Destruction

    A putative class of Google account holders urged a California magistrate judge to sanction and hold Google in contempt for purportedly intentionally destroying key evidence in their suit, which claims Google's ad auction practices violate privacy rights, arguing Google has a pattern of the alleged misconduct in the district.

  • April 22, 2024

    EU Threatens To Suspend 'Addictive' TikTok App Features

    The European Commission warned TikTok on Monday that it may suspend a key feature of the video sharing platform's new app that rewards users for watching videos unless it addresses the watchdog's concerns about addictive elements of the new app and its risk to mental health. 

  • April 22, 2024

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    Last week, Delaware's Chancery Court news included a Tesla announcement about moving to Texas, a midcase appeal of Tripadvisor's move to Nevada, and United Airlines' escape from a stockholder suit. Disputes about board entrenchment, squeeze-out mergers, co-founder fallouts and deadly ice cream moved ahead.

  • April 22, 2024

    Ex-Law Dept. Employee Cops To Workers' Comp Check Thefts

    A former New York City Law Department mail room worker on Monday admitted to a bank fraud conspiracy count after federal prosecutors charged him with a two-year workers' compensation check theft and forgery scheme they say netted $600,000.

  • April 20, 2024

    House Passes Another Bill To Force TikTok Divestment

    The House voted 360-58 on Saturday to pass a bill requiring ByteDance Ltd. to divest TikTok or face a ban in the U.S. and giving the parent company a longer runway to sell the app than a version the House previously passed in March.

  • April 20, 2024

    Power To Spy Without Warrants Renewed For 2 Years

    President Joe Biden on Saturday signed a bill reauthorizing a controversial program to spy on foreigners, hours after the Senate passed it while rejecting a push for warrants to search U.S. citizens' data inadvertently collected while surveilling foreign targets.

  • 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."

Expert Analysis

  • Handling Customer Complaints In Bank-Fintech Partnerships

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    As regulators mine consumer complaint databases for their next investigative targets, it is critical that fintech and bank partners adopt a well-defined and monitored process for ensuring proper complaint handling, including by demonstrating proficiency and following interagency guidance, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • Opinion

    Requiring Leave To File Amicus Briefs Is A Bad Idea

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    A proposal to amend the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure that would require parties to get court permission before filing federal amicus briefs would eliminate the long-standing practice of consent filing and thereby make the process less open and democratic, says Lawrence Ebner at the Atlantic Legal Foundation and DRI Center.

  • Comparing The UK And EU Approaches To AI Regulation

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    While there are significant points of convergence between the recently published U.K. approach to artificial intelligence regulation and the EU AI Act, there is also notable divergence between them, and it appears that the U.K. will remain a less regulatory environment for AI in the foreseeable future, say lawyers at Steptoe.

  • 4 Ways To Motivate Junior Attorneys To Bring Their Best

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    As Gen Z and younger millennial attorneys increasingly express dissatisfaction with their work and head for the exits, the lawyers who manage them must understand and attend to their needs and priorities to boost engagement and increase retention, says Stacey Schwartz at Katten.

  • Decoding The FTC's Latest Location Data Crackdown

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    Following the Federal Trade Commission's groundbreaking settlements in its recent enforcement actions against X-Mode Social and InMarket Media for deceptive and unfair practices with regards to consumer location data, companies should implement policies with three crucial elements for regulatory compliance and maintaining consumer trust, says Hannah Ji-Otto at Baker Donelson.

  • Defense Attys Must Prep For Imminent AI Crime Enforcement

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    Given recent statements by U.S. Department of Justice officials, white collar practitioners should expect to encounter artificial intelligence in federal criminal enforcement in the near term, even in pending cases, say Jarrod Schaeffer and Scott Glicksman at Abell Eskew.

  • Series

    Serving As A Sheriff's Deputy Made Me A Better Lawyer

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    Skills developed during my work as a reserve deputy — where there was a need to always be prepared, decisive and articulate — transferred to my practice as an intellectual property litigator, and my experience taught me that clients often appreciate and relate to the desire to participate in extracurricular activities, says Michael Friedland at Friedland Cianfrani.

  • 10 Ransomware Issues GCs Should Have On Their Radar

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    As the ransomware threat landscape rapidly evolves, in-house counsel should expect to face a number of challenging dynamics, including the need to justify any ransom payments both to internal and external stakeholders, and data extortion demands that are bypassing the encryption stage, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • Parsing Chinese Governance On AI-Generated Content

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    As essential risk-mitigation, companies with a China reach should be aware of recent developments in Chinese oversight of AI-generated content, including the latest rulings and regulations as well as the updated ambit for supervisory bodies, say Jet Deng and Ken Dai at Dacheng.

  • Series

    NJ Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q1

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    Early 2024 developments in New Jersey financial regulations include new bills that propose regulating some cryptocurrency as securities and protecting banks that serve the cannabis industry, as well as the signing of a data privacy law that could change banks’ responsibility to vet vendors and borrowers, say attorneys at Chiesa Shahinian.

  • Former Minn. Chief Justice Instructs On Writing Better Briefs

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    Former Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea, now at Greenberg Traurig, offers strategies on writing more effective appellate briefs from her time on the bench.

  • Unpacking The Complicated Question Of CIPA's Applicability

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    As the number of California Invasion of Privacy Act cases increases, more and more companies with little-to-no California presence are being hauled into California court, raising questions of when CIPA applies and to whom, says Matthew Pearson at BakerHostetler.

  • Stay Interviews Are Key To Retaining Legal Talent

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    Even as the economy shifts and layoffs continue, law firms still want to retain their top attorneys, and so-called stay interviews — informal conversations with employees to identify potential issues before they lead to turnover — can be a crucial tool for improving retention and morale, say Tina Cohen Nicol and Kate Reder Sheikh at Major Lindsey.

  • What To Know About State-Level Health Data Privacy Laws

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    Companies that handle consumer health data, including those in the retail sector, should take a conservative approach when interpreting the scope of new health privacy laws in Washington, Nevada and Connecticut, which may include development of privacy notices, consent procedures, rights request response processes and processor contracts, say attorneys at Hunton.

  • HHS' Updated Tracking Tech Guidance Offers Little Clarity

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    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights' updated guidance on the use of online tracking technologies appears more focused on legal issues raised in ongoing litigation with the American Hospital Association and less on practical guidance for covered entities, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

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