Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce

September 05, 2025
3rd Circuit: Policy Violations Not Federal Crimes, Passwords Not Trade Secrets

PHILADELPHIA — Under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), workplace policy infractions are not federal crimes and federal and Pennsylvania laws do not hold that passwords protecting proprietary business information are trade secrets, a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found “for the first time” in affirming a district court ruling that two former employees of a national debt-collection firm did not commit computer fraud, steal trade secrets or violate other state and federal laws through the creation and sharing of a spreadsheet containing passwords and login information protecting “confidential and proprietary information.”
September 04, 2025
Disney Settles Children’s Online Privacy Violations With FTC For $10 Million

LOS ANGELES — In a stipulation and proposed order filed in California federal court, Disney Worldwide Services Inc. and Disney Entertainment Operations LLC (together, Disney) have agreed to pay $10 million to settle allegations by the Federal Trade Commission that it violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by not properly designating whether videos it uploaded to YouTube were made for kids (MFK), which resulted in the collection of children’s personal data.
September 04, 2025
U.K. Plaintiffs Amend Class Deception Claims Against Coupon Finder

SAN FRANCISCO — Citizens of the United Kingdom filed an amended putative class action against a company that operates a discount-finding browser extension and its parent company for alleged violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) on behalf of all U.K. users of the browser extension who were not provided the best discounts available for certain products they purchased online, after a judge dismissed a prior complaint for lack of a connection to California.
September 03, 2025
Judge Says Google Not Required To Divest Chrome In DOJ Antitrust Remedies Ruling

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a suit in which a District of Columbia federal judge determined that Google LLC violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act, the judge on Sept. 2 issued an opinion outlining remedies, including not requiring the divestiture of Google Chrome. The judge accepted with modifications Google’s proposed remedies “in full” and adopted in part the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) and states’ proposed remedies.
September 02, 2025
Online Service Seeks Supreme Court Review Of Standing Ruling In Antitrust Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An online pharmacy monitoring service filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking review of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ affirmance of a lower court’s ruling denying the petitioner’s motion for summary judgment based on a lack of standing in a suit against the service alleging Sherman Act violations for a purported group boycott.
August 28, 2025
App Makers Unfairly Tried To Force Players Into Arbitration, 9th Circuit Says

SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Aug. 27 affirmed a lower court’s ruling barring a mobile gaming app developer’s attempt to enforce an “unconscionable” arbitration agreement with players who alleged that they were tricked into paying to play against bots instead of real people in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL).
August 28, 2025
Grindr Asks High Court To Deny Cert In Sex Trafficking CDA Suit By App User

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Grindr Inc. and Grindr LLC, the operators of the Grindr app, filed a brief in opposition to a petition for a writ of certiorari by an individual alleging that the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals erred in affirming a lower court’s ruling dismissing with prejudice as barred by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) a negligence, product liability and federal sex trafficking suit over injuries sustained after using the Grindr app.
August 28, 2025
Injunction Issued Against Website User Accused Of Posting Fake Google Reviews

SAN JOSE, Calif. — After granting in part Google LLC’s motion for default judgment, a California federal judge issued a permanent injunction to prevent a man and his agents from creating reviews on services owned by Google LLC in Google’s suit against the man and unnamed parties alleging violations of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) for the defendants’ purported participation in a “scheme” through their website to sell and post fake reviews for business listings on Google’s services.
August 28, 2025
Parents Claim Intentional ChatGPT Design Choices Led To Son’s Suicide

SAN FRANCISCO — OpenAI entities intentionally designed ChatGPT to emotionally engage with users but without implementing sufficient safeguards, leading the AI to encourage a teenager to isolate from his family and commit suicide, his parents say in a California lawsuit alleging strict liability, negligence, wrongful death and violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL).
August 27, 2025
Citing No ‘Exceptional Circumstances,’ Judge Denies Appeal In Online Consent Suit

TACOMA, Wash. — A Washington federal judge denied a motion for interlocutory appeal of the court’s prior order denying a motion to strike class allegations in a putative class action suit over alleged wrongful use of individuals’ names absent consent against ZoomInfo Technologies LLC, a company that provides a database with information about businesses, finding that ZoomInfo failed to establish “exceptional circumstances” that would merit interlocutory review.
August 27, 2025
9th Circuit Affirms Motion To Compel Denial In Online Retail Class Arbitration Row

PASADENA, Calif. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s order denying a motion to compel arbitration by Lands’ End Inc. in a consumer’s putative class suit alleging violations of multiple California consumer protection laws regarding Lands’ End’s purported false advertising about pricing on its website, finding that contrary to Lands’ End’s claims that its website’s terms of use, including an arbitration provision, bar the suit, the District Court did not err in its determination “that the hyperlink to the Terms of Use was broken” at the time of the plaintiff’s purchase.
August 25, 2025
9th Circuit Grants Mandamus Relief Regarding Discovery Order Related To Meta MDL

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 22 granted in part a petition for a writ of mandamus filed by the attorney general of California and joined by other state attorneys generals seeking to direct a district court to grant the state attorney general’s objections to a discovery order requiring them to produce specified documents in a product liability multidistrict litigation over the purported addictive qualities for adolescents of several of the largest social media platforms, including Meta Platforms Inc.
August 25, 2025
Plaintiffs Suing Therapy App For Privacy Violations May Proceed Anonymously

SAN FRANCISCO — The anonymity of putative class plaintiffs accusing online therapy company BetterHelp Inc. of violating privacy laws by selling their personal data to third parties in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) does not require dismissal, a California federal judge ruled in denying the company’s motion to dismiss, citing the nature of the plaintiffs’ privacy protection claims.
August 22, 2025
Judge Tosses Online Privacy Class Suits Against ‘People Search’ Providers

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — A federal judge dismissed with prejudice putative class action suits filed by a retired law enforcement officer alleging violations of West Virginia’s Daniel’s Law, which provides a private right of action for disclosure of home addresses or unpublished phone numbers of current or former judicial officials, finding that a certain provision of the statute “regulates speech based on its content” and “cannot survive strict scrutiny” under the U.S. Constitution “because it is not narrowly tailored.”
August 20, 2025
Motion To Exclude Amazon Expert Marketing Testimony Denied In FTC Suit Over Prime

SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge on Aug. 19 denied a motion by the Federal Trade Commission seeking to exclude a marketing professor’s expert testimony regarding cancellation and enrollment flows in the Amazon Prime service in a suit accusing Amazon and its officers of tricking customers into enrolling in Prime, finding that the expert’s analysis is both relevant and reliable.
August 20, 2025
FTC Sues Ticket Brokers Over Alleged Violations Of Ticketmaster Purchase Limits

BALTIMORE — The Federal Trade Commission has filed a complaint in Maryland federal court against Key Investment Group LLC, its subsidiary, TotalTickets.com LLC, and related entities and individuals, alleging violations of the Better Online Ticket Sales Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act by circumventing technology controls to exceed ticket purchasing limits.
August 20, 2025
‘Coverage Position Is Frivolous And Unfounded,’ Insured Argues In Data Breach Suit

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — An insured sued its insurer in a federal court in Georgia for breach of contract and bad faith seeking cyber defense coverage for putative class actions brought as a result of a 2024 data breach.
August 12, 2025
COMMENTARY: Shifting Cyber Risk: The Critical Role Of Indemnification In Vendor Contracts

By Latosha M. Ellis and Veronica P. Adams
August 15, 2025
High Court Won’t Vacate Stay Of Injunction Preventing Social Media Law Enforcement

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Aug. 14 denied an application by the internet trade association NetChoice LLC seeking to vacate the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ stay of a lower court injunction to stop the enforcement of certain provisions of a Mississippi statute that would regulate minors’ access to certain internet platforms by requiring parental consent.
August 15, 2025
Windows 10 User Says Microsoft Stopping Tech Support To Boost Its AI

SAN DIEGO — A consumer filed a suit in California state court against Microsoft Corp. over its plans to cease offering technical support for its Windows 10 operating system (OS) in October 2025, claiming that it wants to drive users onto newer Microsoft products that use artificial intelligence so it can “monopolize the generative AI market” and failed to disclose that Windows 10 licenses were temporary in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL).
August 14, 2025
Split 6th Circuit Won’t Review Petitions Challenging FCC Telecom Data Breach Rule

CINCINNATI — A split Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Aug. 13 denied consolidated petitions for review of a Federal Communications Commission rule requiring reporting by telecommunications carriers of data breaches involving personally identifiable information (PII), finding that pursuant to the Communications Act, the FCC has the authority to implement reporting requirements related to data breaches involving customer PII.
August 13, 2025
Amazon’s Human Factors Expert Out In FTC Suit Over Prime Membership Enrollment

SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge agreed with the Federal Trade Commission that testimony from an expert retained by Amazon.com Inc. to opine on the company’s user interfaces in a suit accusing Amazon and its officers of tricking customers into enrolling in the Amazon Prime service is inadmissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 702.
August 12, 2025
App Developers Accuse Apple Of Monopolizing App Sales Market

OAKLAND, Calif. — Seven plaintiffs filed an amended class action against Apple Inc. in California federal court accusing the company of monopolizing the market for apps and harming their companies by forcing them to pay “supra-competitive commissions” to keep their products available on the Apple App Store, allegedly in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL), antitrust law and Korean and Japanese anti-monopoly laws.
August 11, 2025
Judge Partly Grants Motion To Certify Class In Misleading Crypto Promotions Suit

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge granted in part and denied in part a motion by cryptocurrency investors to certify a class against a cryptocurrency developer, the developers’ executives and celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and Floyd Mayweather Jr. who promoted the crypto coin as a reliable investment, allegedly in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other state laws.
August 11, 2025
Connecticut Judge Refuses To Strike Bad Faith Claims In Cryptocurrency Loss Suit

MILFORD, Conn.— A Connecticut judge denied a homeowners insurer’s motion to strike two claims for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing in a coverage dispute arising from the insured’s cryptocurrency loss, finding that the insured has asserted specific conduct that indicates actions “with conscious bad faith design.”