Cybersecurity & Privacy

  • May 28, 2024

    Consumers, Advertisers Seek Class Cert. Against Meta

    Advertisers and consumers suing Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc. over allegations of monopolizing the online social media advertising market and misusing users' data in the process have told the California federal court overseeing their claims that they believe it's time for the proposed classes to be certified.

  • May 28, 2024

    Google, Meta Can Arbitrate H&R Block User's Tax Data Suit

    A California federal judge on Friday ruled that a man who was previously instructed to arbitrate his proposed class action alleging that H&R Block shared private data must also arbitrate claims against Google and Meta Platforms Inc., saying the allegations against the two technology companies are closely connected to those against H&R Block.

  • May 28, 2024

    Microsoft, OpenAI Beat Overstuffed Privacy Suit, For Now

    A California federal judge threw out, for now, consumers' suit alleging their privacy was violated by Microsoft Corp. and OpenAI LP's products, slamming the complaint as "excessive" and packed with "unnecessary and distracting allegations" to the point it's "nearly impossible" to determine the adequacy of the claims.

  • May 28, 2024

    Activision Wins $14M From Call Of Duty Cheat Code Sellers

    Activision Publishing scored over $14.4 million in damages and nearly $300,000 in attorney fees against German companies accused of selling cheat codes for Call of Duty games when a California federal judge Tuesday granted its motion for default judgment, finding none of the defendants appeared in the case for a year.

  • May 28, 2024

    Capital One Is The Latest To Face 'Refer A Friend' Text Suit

    Capital One Financial Corp. faces a proposed class action in Seattle federal court alleging it violated a Washington state law barring advertising texts in connection with the "refer a friend" texts it prompted existing customers to send to their own personal contacts.

  • May 28, 2024

    Christie's CEO Confirms Cyberattack On Auction House's Data

    The chief executive officer of Christie's said it has identified the hacking group behind a cyberattack that hit the international auction house's website just as it launched a series of live and online auctions for art and luxury goods this spring.

  • May 28, 2024

    Apple Denied Appeal Of Cert. In App Store Monopoly Suit

    The Ninth Circuit on Friday rejected Apple's interlocutory appeal of an order certifying a class of millions of App Store users who allege antitrust violations, paving the way for discovery to proceed as the case heads toward a trial currently set for February 2026.

  • May 28, 2024

    No Coverage For IT Co.'s 'Collusive' Settlement, Insurer Says

    Chubb unit ACE American Insurance Co. told a Colorado federal court it owes no coverage to an IT company found liable by a jury for making fraudulent misrepresentations and breaching its cybersecurity agreement with an investment company, arguing the parties' post-verdict settlement was merely a workaround to "create insurance coverage."

  • May 28, 2024

    Mich. Atty Can't Have Dominion Info, Pa. Court Told

    Dominion Voting Systems told a Pennsylvania state court Tuesday that information copied from election machines as part of a county's fraud probe was "fruit of the poisonous tree" and can't be shared with a Michigan attorney who has been in hot water for allegedly accessing other states' machine data and releasing the privileged information.

  • May 28, 2024

    FTX Exec Who Acted As Bankman-Fried 'Tool' Gets 7½ Years

    A Manhattan federal judge hit cryptocurrency finance expert and former FTX executive Ryan Salame with a 7½-year sentence Tuesday for duping a bank to authorize $1.5 billion of illegal transfers and making fraudulent campaign contributions for the exchange's convicted founder, Sam Bankman-Fried.

  • May 24, 2024

    Senate Republican Eyes Tutor.com's China Ties, Data Use

    The top Republican on the U.S. Senate's health and education committee has launched an investigation into Tutor.com, a Chinese-controlled web service of The Princeton Review that offers students online tutoring, saying China's Communist Party may be exploiting users' sensitive data.

  • May 24, 2024

    SEC Hits Back At SolarWinds' 'Distortion' Allegations

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sent a letter to a New York federal judge Friday pushing back on SolarWinds Corp.'s accusations that it was overstating and distorting its case against the government contractor over a data hack, saying its complaint is "well-grounded in facts" uncovered during its investigation.

  • May 24, 2024

    Malware Backdoor Found In Software Used By Courtrooms

    Software created by a company that provides digital audiovisual technology to courtrooms, jails and other facilities contains a backdoor associated with malware that disguises itself as a normal update, analysts at a cybersecurity firm reported, warning that "users are at high risk and should take immediate action."

  • May 24, 2024

    Airline Worker Terrorized 'Countless' Passengers, Suit Says

    A California man with ties to American Airlines gained access to the private information of regional airline passengers and embarked on a monthslong campaign of harassing them, according to a lawsuit in federal court with 15 plaintiffs.

  • May 24, 2024

    Bungie Cheat Code Sellers Hit With $63K Copyright Verdict

    A federal jury said Friday that people behind a video game cheat code owe Bungie about $63,000 for replicating a sci-fi shooter's code to make the cheat software and peddle it on the internet, capping off a nearly weeklong copyright trial in Seattle.

  • May 24, 2024

    Food Supplier Says Exec Raided Files, Jumped to Competitor

    A senior sales executive at a Massachusetts food distributor spent his final days with the company slipping in after hours and on weekends to print out and photocopy customer records and other trade secrets, before jumping to a direct competitor, according to a lawsuit filed in state court.

  • May 24, 2024

    Biden's Judicial Impact And What's Left On The Wish List

    President Joe Biden secured confirmation of his 200th federal judge Wednesday and has transformed the judiciary by picking more women and people of color than any other president. But the upcoming election season could derail his hopes of confirming many more judges.

  • May 24, 2024

    FCC Probing Unauthorized Navigation Satellite Signals In US

    The Federal Communications Commission is continuing its investigation into U.S. phones receiving unauthorized Russian and Chinese navigation satellite signals, but FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel told lawmakers last week that she didn't have much more to share on the inquiry.

  • May 23, 2024

    Bungie Cheat Code Sellers Dinged At Trial For Deleting Docs

    A Seattle federal judge overseeing a trial of Bungie's copyright claims against a group of cheat code sellers instructed jurors Thursday that the defendants intentionally destroyed evidence by deleting records they had a duty to preserve once they were aware of the game studio's claims.

  • May 23, 2024

    TikTok, YouTube Must Produce European Privacy Data In MDL

    A California federal magistrate judge overseeing discovery in multidistrict litigation over whether social media platforms' design is addictive ordered TikTok and YouTube on Thursday to give American personal injury plaintiffs certain technical documents regarding the companies' safety features implemented in Europe and Australia, which have tougher consumer privacy laws.

  • May 23, 2024

    Ex-Bank CEO Cops To Embezzling $47M To Pay Crypto Scam

    Heartland Tri-State Bank's former chief executive pled guilty Thursday in Kansas federal court to embezzling $47 million that he wired to cryptocurrency accounts controlled by fraudsters after falling victim to a "pig butchering" scam, which led to the bank's collapse and subsequent shutdown last summer.

  • May 23, 2024

    House Panel Moves Data Privacy Bill, While Vowing Revisions

    A U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on Thursday advanced a bipartisan proposal to create a nationwide framework for how companies use and share consumers' personal information, despite lawmakers on both sides of the aisle acknowledging that more work needs to be done to further refine the measure.

  • May 23, 2024

    AdTech Co. Faces Suit As Google's Cookie Support Crumbles

    Advertising company Direct Digital Holdings Inc. faces a proposed investor class action alleging it mismanaged its response to an impending major technological change affecting how digital advertisers can target consumers.

  • May 23, 2024

    Charges Tossed For Army Doc, Wife In Russia Data Leak Case

    A Maryland federal judge dismissed all charges against a U.S. Army physician and her wife who were accused of trying to leak military patients' medical information to Russia, finding the government violated the Speedy Trial Act and bungled the defense's request for access to classified information.

  • May 23, 2024

    Joint Venture Says Defense Agency Errors Thwarted Contract

    An Alabama joint venture hauled the U.S. government into the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, alleging it was shut out of a Missile Defense Agency deal due to multiple errors the agency made when assessing the joint venture.

Expert Analysis

  • Companies Should Beware Greater Scrutiny Of Subscriptions

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    The New York Attorney General's Office has been utilizing a severe interpretation of the law in enforcement against subscription services, as demonstrated in last month's Sirius XM complaint and Cerebral settlement — and this focus is representative of heightened subscription scrutiny in other states and at the federal level, say attorneys at Venable.

  • Uncharted Waters Ahead For FCA Litigation In 2024

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    Following a year of significant court decisions, settlements, recoveries and proposed amendments, 2024 promises to be a lively year for False Claims Act actions and litigation, and one that will hopefully provide more clarity as FCA jurisprudence evolves, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Takeaways From FTC Children's Privacy Rule Proposal

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    The Federal Trade Commission’s recently issued and long-awaited proposed revisions to its Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule are not as seismic as might have been expected under current leadership, and show that the agency's COPPA rulemaking is far from over, says Phyllis Marcus at Hunton.

  • Series

    Baking Bread Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    After many years practicing law, and a few years baking bread, I have learned that there are a few keys to success in both endeavors, including the assembly of a nourishing and resilient culture, and the ability to learn from failure and exercise patience, says Rick Robinson at Reed Smith.

  • 3 Key Class Action Trends To Use As Guidance In 2024

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    Telephone Consumer Protection Act, privacy and false advertising class actions saw significant shifts last year — including a trend toward expanding the application of preexisting laws to current technologies — that businesses should keep in mind to navigate the class action landscape in 2024, say attorneys at Mintz.

  • Federal Courts And AI Standing Orders: Safety Or Overkill?

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    Several district court judges have issued standing orders regulating the use of artificial intelligence in their courts, but courts should consider following ordinary notice and comment procedures before implementing sweeping mandates that could be unnecessarily burdensome and counterproductive, say attorneys at Curtis.

  • Series

    NY Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q4

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    New York's banking and financial sector saw a number of notable regulatory and legislative changes in the final quarter of 2023, including guidance on climate risks and heightened cybersecurity protocols issued by the New York State Department of Financial Services, as well as final revisions to virtual currency listings in the state, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • How Data Brokers Can Prep For Calif. Delete Act Compliance

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    As California Delete Act obligations approach in late January, data brokers should proactively assess and scrutinize their compliance with the act, taking proactive measures to mitigate potential risks associated with noncompliance, say Goli Mahdavi and Gabrielle Harwell at BCLP.

  • How 4 State AGs Are Shaping Data Privacy Compliance

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    As the landscape of state data privacy laws continues to grow across the nation, understanding how state attorneys general — such as in California, Colorado, Connecticut and Virginia — are thinking about these laws is critical to begin forecasting how enforcement will play out, say Michelle Kallen and Daniel Echeverri at Jenner & Block.

  • 7 E-Discovery Predictions For 2024 And Beyond

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    The legal and technical issues of e-discovery now affect virtually every lawsuit, and in the year to come, practitioners can expect practices and policies to evolve in a number of ways, from the expanded use of relevancy redactions to mandated information security provisions in protective orders, say attorneys at Littler.

  • DOD's Proposed Cyber Rule: What Contractors Must Know

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    A review of the U.S. Department of Defense's recently published Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification proposed rule, requiring independent third-party cybersecurity assessments for many defense contractors, suggests that there will be a competitive advantage to prompt demonstration of full compliance with the rule, says Robert Metzger at Rogers Joseph.

  • Top Considerations For Retailers Using AI To Combat Theft

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    The Federal Trade Commission's recent enforcement action against Rite Aid indicates a significant evolution in the landscape surrounding biometric information and artificial intelligence data collection by retailers, meaning retailers should take reasonable measures to prevent harm to customers, say attorneys at Dentons.

  • Major EU AI Banking Ruling Will Reverberate Across Sectors

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    Following the European Court of Justice's recent OQ v. Land Hessen decision that banks' use of AI-driven credit scores to make consumer decisions did not comply with the General Data Protection Regulation, regulators indicated that the ruling would apply broadly, leaving numerous industries that employ AI-powered decisions open to scrutiny, say lawyers at Alston & Bird.

  • Trends That Tech Lawyers Should Keep An Eye On In 2024

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    Worldwide technology spending is projected to strengthen in 2024, spurred by artificial intelligence-driven solutions, and five areas of growth may affect lawyers' practice in this sector, says Sonia Baldia at Kilpatrick.

  • CFPB As Pay App Watchdog May Invite More Fintech Regs

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    While the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent proposal to enhance federal oversight of the biggest consumer payment applications would impose no new regulatory obligations, the rulemaking could provoke heightened scrutiny for all participants in the digital payments market, say attorneys at Steptoe.

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