Cybersecurity & Privacy

  • December 02, 2024

    Musk Asks Court To Halt OpenAI's Conversion To For-Profit

    Elon Musk sought a preliminary injunction asking a California federal court to stop OpenAI from transitioning into a for-profit enterprise, arguing the plaintiffs and the public would be harmed whether as competitors, donors, investors, consumers, taxpayers, citizens or "simply as people" worried about AI rushing unsafe products into the marketplace.  

  • November 27, 2024

    Google Wants 9th Circ. To Undo Play Store Ruling In Epic Row

    Google has pressed the Ninth Circuit to reverse an injunction forcing it to allow third-party app distribution on its Play Store, arguing that the lower court's ruling will "directly undercut Google's efforts to compete against Apple and the iPhone."

  • November 27, 2024

    Prudential Website Visitors Get Class Cert. In Tracking Row

    A California federal judge has certified a class of life insurance quote seekers who are accusing Prudential Financial Inc. and its software vendor of illegally recording their keystrokes and information, finding that questions about website visitors' knowledge of this practice can be resolved on a classwide basis. 

  • November 27, 2024

    X Corp Says Gov't Trying To 'Muzzle' Doc In Bitter HIPAA Case

    X Corp has told a Texas federal judge that government prosecutors were trying to "muzzle" a doctor accused of sharing protected patient information while talking to the press about a hospital's gender-affirming care practices, saying the government was out of line.

  • November 27, 2024

    $83M Air Force Award Must Account For Merger, GAO Says

    The U.S. Government Accountability Office says the Air Force must reconsider its award of an $83 million task order, saying the veteran-owned small business protesting the award possessed the requisite certification following a merger.

  • November 27, 2024

    Zoom Offers SEC $18M To Settle 2020 Privacy Probe

    Zoom Communications disclosed in a U.S. Securities Exchange and Commission filing that it has offered $18 million to settle an agency investigation into "various security, data protection and privacy matters," including the videoconferencing platform's encryption.

  • November 27, 2024

    Amazon Judge Says Appeal Too Soon In Ongoing Privacy Suit

    A Washington federal judge has said he won't issue a final judgment to allow consumers to appeal his previous ruling tossing most of the claims in a suit alleging that palm scanners at joint Starbucks-Amazon stores violate biometric privacy law, because one of the plaintiffs has a remaining claim.

  • November 27, 2024

    Arkansas Can't Bring Suit Against Crypto Miner For Now

    An Arkansas federal judge has temporarily barred state officials from taking action against a Chinese-born U.S. citizen's crypto mining operation after he challenged the investigation against him and the laws underpinning it as discriminatory and unconstitutional.

  • November 27, 2024

    Fintech Co. Ingo, Consumers Reach Deal To End Breach Suit

    Fintech deposit underwriter Ingo Money Inc. has reached a handshake deal to settle proposed class action claims that for seven months it sat on news that hackers had gotten hold of a "gold mine" of customers' personal information.

  • November 27, 2024

    Burger King Franchisee Can Tap AIG For BIPA Suit, Eventually

    An Illinois federal judge ruled Tuesday that an AIG subsidiary has a duty to defend a Burger King franchisee in a suit brought by employees claiming its timekeeping practices violated Illinois' biometric privacy law, but only after the limits of all other insurance have been exhausted.

  • November 27, 2024

    5th Circ. Reverses Treasury's Block Of Crypto Mixer

    The Fifth Circuit has rejected the government's blacklisting of Tornado Cash for "its role in laundering virtual currency for malicious cyber actors," saying the cryptocurrency service's immutable smart contracts, or lines of privacy-enabling software code, are not "property" and are therefore unownable and cannot be blocked under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

  • November 27, 2024

    Data Cos. Lose Challenge To NJ Judicial Privacy Law

    A federal judge has ruled that the New Jersey judicial privacy and security measure known as Daniel's Law is constitutional, handing a defeat to a large group of data brokers accused of illegally posting judges' names and addresses online.

  • November 27, 2024

    Better, Faster, Stranger: What Attys Think Of Our AI Future

    Law firms are increasingly embracing the use of artificial intelligence, wary of its limitations but enchanted by its potential to transform the practice of law through smaller headcounts and cheaper litigation.

  • November 26, 2024

    Sundance Can't Ditch Suit Over Purchase Data Disclosures

    A Utah federal judge has refused to toss a proposed class action accusing specialty retailer Sundance of unlawfully sharing its customers' private information with various third parties, finding that a ban on class actions contained in the state law being relied on by the plaintiffs didn't doom the dispute. 

  • November 26, 2024

    X Partially Revives Lawsuit Against Israeli Data Scraping Firm

    X Corp. partially revived its lawsuit Tuesday against Israeli data scraping firm Bright Data after a California federal judge allowed the social media company to amend some of its claims and add new ones, finding X now plausibly alleges the defendant's "sophisticated efforts" to access the platform caused harm.

  • November 26, 2024

    Truepill's $7.5M Patent Data Theft Settlement Gets Initial OK

    A California federal judge Tuesday preliminarily backed a $7.5 million deal resolving a proposed class action alleging that online pharmacy PostMeds Inc., which does business as Truepill, failed to protect the sensitive information of millions of patients from a data breach.

  • November 26, 2024

    Smart Devices Fail To Disclose Security Lifespan, FTC Says

    As holiday shopping gets underway, the Federal Trade Commission is raising alarm about smart device update disclosures, saying an overwhelming majority of devices – from hearing aids to home security cameras and fitness devices — come without clear information on how long the manufacturer will keep them protected from security risks.

  • November 26, 2024

    T-Mobile, Sprint Slam FCC Privacy Fine At DC Circ.

    T-Mobile and Sprint are asking the D.C. Circuit to knock down $92 million in fines the FCC slapped them with for selling users' sensitive location data, saying that a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision backs their contention they deserved a jury trial.

  • November 26, 2024

    Victim Shares Blame For $1.4M Scam, Connecticut Atty Says

    A New Jersey real estate development company is at least partly to blame after it transferred more than $1.4 million to a fraudster without taking proper precautions, a Connecticut attorney said Tuesday in response to a federal lawsuit that accuses her of involvement in the scam.

  • November 26, 2024

    FTC Says AI Weapons-Screening Biz Hyped Faulty Scanners

    The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday accused Evolv Technologies of making false and unsupported claims that its AI-powered security screening products detect weapons while ignoring harmless personal items.

  • November 26, 2024

    Bojangles' Restaurants Sued Over Weekslong Cyberattack

    A former employee of Southern-style fast-food chain Bojangles' Restaurants Inc. said the company negligently failed to protect his and his proposed class members' personal information, allowing hackers to access it earlier this year in a cyberattack that lasted for weeks.

  • November 25, 2024

    Mich. Atty's Voting Machine Criminal Trial Delayed Again

    A Michigan state judge on Monday yet again delayed the criminal trial of an attorney accused of accessing 2020 voting machines after reiterating that he would not disqualify special prosecutors from arguing the case, giving more time for others similarly charged to chime in about newly discovered evidence.

  • November 25, 2024

    Fla. IT Worker Gets 4 Years In Chinese Spying Case

    An information technology worker who pled guilty to working as a "cooperative contact" for the Chinese government was sentenced in Florida federal court Monday to four years behind bars, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

  • November 25, 2024

    Geico, Travelers To Pay NY $11.3M To Settle Data Security Row

    New York's financial services regulator and attorney general revealed Monday that they've hit Geico and Travelers with $11.3 million in penalties for the auto insurers' alleged failure to adequately secure driver's license numbers, birth dates and other personal information that was compromised as part of a hacking campaign targeting online rate quote tools.

  • November 25, 2024

    'Shameful': Dems Rip Credit Bureaus Over Scrapped Hearing

    Democratic senators on Monday lit into the Big Three credit bureaus for allegedly backing out of preelection commitments to testify last week before the Senate Banking Committee, calling the move "shortsighted and shameful."

Expert Analysis

  • What 7th Circ. Samsung Decision Means For Mass Arbitration

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    The Seventh Circuit's recent decision in Wallrich v. Samsung highlights the dilemma faced by mass arbitration filers in the face of nonpayment of arbitration fees by the defending party — but also suggests that there are risks for defendants in pursuing such a strategy, says Daniel Campbell at McDermott.

  • Takeaways From Virginia's $2B Trade Secrets Verdict Reversal

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    The Virginia Court of Appeals' recent reversal of the $2 billion damages award in Pegasystems v. Appian underscores the claimant's burden to show damages causation and highlights how an evidentiary ruling could lead to reversible error, say John Lanham and Kamran Jamil at Morrison Foerster.

  • How Justices Upended The Administrative Procedure Act

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    In its recent Loper Bright, Corner Post and Jarkesy decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court fundamentally changed the Administrative Procedure Act in ways that undermine Congress and the executive branch, shift power to the judiciary, curtail public and business input, and create great uncertainty, say Alene Taber and Beth Hummer at Hanson Bridgett.

  • FTC Drives Crackdown On Connected Cars' Data Privacy Risk

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    After the Federal Trade Commission's warning to automakers about data privacy, which continues to emerge as a national concern, automakers must carefully examine their data collection, use and retention practices, say Catherine Castaldo and Michael Rubayo at Reed Smith.

  • Considerations As State AGs Step Up Privacy Enforcement

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    As new state privacy laws take effect, businesses are facing an increasingly complex patchwork of compliance obligations and risk of scrutiny by attorneys general, but companies can gain a competitive edge by building consumer trust and staying ahead of regulatory trends, say Ann-Marie Luciano and Meghan Stoppel at Cozen O’Connor.

  • Lessons From Recent SEC Cyber Enforcement Actions

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    The recent guidance by the SEC's Division of Corporation Finance is helpful to any company facing a cybersecurity threat, but just as instructive are the warnings raised by the SEC's recent enforcement actions against SolarWinds, R.R. Donnelley and Intercontinental Exchange, say attorneys at O'Melveny.

  • How Cos. With Chinese Suppliers Should Prep For Biotech Bill

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    A proposed bill to prohibit government-affiliated life sciences companies from contracting with Chinese biotech companies of concern may necessitate switching to other sources for research and supplies, meaning they should begin evaluating supply chains now due to the long lead times of drug development, say John O'Loughlin and Christina Carone at Weil Gotshal.

  • Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Is My Counterclaim Bound To Fall?

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    A Pennsylvania federal court’s recent dismissal of the defendants’ counterclaims in Morgan v. Noss should remind attorneys to avoid the temptation to repackage a claim’s facts and law into a mirror-image counterclaim, as this approach will often result in a waste of time and resources, says Matthew Selmasska at Kaufman Dolowich.

  • Series

    Playing Dungeons & Dragons Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing Dungeons & Dragons – a tabletop role-playing game – helped pave the way for my legal career by providing me with foundational skills such as persuasion and team building, says Derrick Carman at Robins Kaplan.

  • A Look At The Regulatory Scrutiny Facing Liquid Restaking

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    Recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement actions highlight the regulatory challenges facing emerging financial instruments like liquid restaking tokens and services, say Daniel Davis and Alexander Kim at Katten.

  • Considerations When Using Publicly Available Data To Train AI

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    To maximize the benefits and mitigate the risks of using publicly available data to train artificial intelligence models, companies should maintain a balance between openness and protection, and consider certain best practices, says Michael Cole at Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America.

  • Illinois BIPA Reform Offers Welcome Relief To Businesses

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    Illinois' recent amendment to its Biometric Information Privacy Act limits the number of violations and damages a plaintiff can claim — a crucial step in shielding businesses from unintended legal consequences, including litigation risk and compliance costs, say attorneys at Taft.

  • Jarkesy Ruling May Redefine Jury Role In Patent Fraud

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    Regardless of whether the U.S. Supreme Court’s Jarkesy ruling implicates the direction of inequitable conduct, which requires showing that the patentee made material statements or omissions to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the decision has created opportunities for defendants to argue more substantively for jury trials than ever before, say attorneys at Cadwalader.

  • 3 Leadership Practices For A More Supportive Firm Culture

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    Traditional leadership styles frequently amplify the inherent pressures of legal work, but a few simple, time-neutral strategies can strengthen the skills and confidence of employees and foster a more collaborative culture, while supporting individual growth and contribution to organizational goals, says Benjamin Grimes at BKG Leadership.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Rulings On Hyperlinked Documents

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    Recent rulings show that counsel should engage in early discussions with clients regarding the potential of hyperlinked documents in electronically stored information, which will allow for more deliberate negotiation of any agreements regarding the scope of discovery, say attorneys at Sidley.

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