Cybersecurity & Privacy

  • May 29, 2024

    TikTok Ban Gets Expedited Sept. Hearing Date At DC Circ.

    The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday agreed to expedite the briefing schedule for a constitutional challenge against a federal law banning TikTok from the United States unless it severs its ties with its Chinese parent company, ByteDance Ltd., with oral arguments set to be heard this fall. 

  • May 29, 2024

    Makeup Co. BIPA Suit Trimmed As Arbitration Bid Denied

    An Illinois federal judge on Tuesday said plaintiffs accusing e.l.f. Cosmetics of violating the state's biometric privacy law with its online virtual try-on tool lacked standing to bring two of their claims, while rejecting the company's arguments that the remaining claim should be arbitrated.

  • May 29, 2024

    New Colo. Law Targets AI Deepfakes In Political Ads

    Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has signed a bill that aims to crack down on the malicious use of artificial intelligence for producing political messaging.

  • May 29, 2024

    6 Questions For FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez

    A year after she was nominated for the Federal Communications Commission's third Democratic seat, Anna Gomez says she's steadily progressing toward goals tied to connectivity, innovation, public safety and media localism in what she calls the "best job I've had in my career."

  • May 29, 2024

    Ex-Calif. Atty Cops To Role In $9.5M Crypto Ponzi Scheme

    A disbarred California attorney has pled guilty in federal court to his role in promoting a $9.5 million cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme.

  • May 29, 2024

    House Judiciary Leaders Seek Briefing On FISA Court Access

    The top Republican and Democrat on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee are looking for an update on a request by members of Congress for access to the secretive proceedings of the court that hears matters on the controversial warrantless foreign surveillance law.

  • May 28, 2024

    Amazon Can't Duck FTC's Prime Subscription Suit

    Amazon cannot escape the Federal Trade Commission's lawsuit alleging the e-commerce giant tricks consumers into enrolling in its Prime service and makes it difficult for members to cancel subscriptions, a Seattle federal judge ruled Tuesday, saying the commission has adequately alleged Amazon's Prime terms were not "clearly and conspicuously disclosed."

  • May 28, 2024

    Judge Hints Amazon Can't Avoid BIPA Suit For Stored Data

    A Washington federal judge pushed back Tuesday against Amazon's claims it cannot be sued for data that merely passed through its servers, noting that Illinois' biometric privacy law doesn't just create liabilities for the original data collector.

  • May 28, 2024

    AI Co. Can't Escape Meta's Suit Over User Data Scraping

    A California federal judge has refused to toss Meta Platforms Inc.'s suit accusing an artificial intelligence company of unlawfully scraping Facebook users' data and selling it to its clients, finding that Meta had identified a valid contract and that the court had jurisdiction over all the social media giant's claims.

  • 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.

Expert Analysis

  • The Corporate Transparency Act Isn't Dead Yet

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    After an Alabama federal court's ruling last week rendering the Corporate Transparency Act unconstitutional, changes to the law may ultimately be required, but ongoing compliance is still the best course of action for most, says George Singer at Holland & Hart.

  • The Pros And Cons Of Protecting AI As Trade Secrets

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    Despite regulatory trends toward greater transparency of artificial intelligence models, federal policy acknowledges, and perhaps endorses, trade secret protection for AI information, but there are still hurdles in keeping AI information a secret, say Jennifer Maisel and Andrew Stewart at Rothwell Figg.

  • Conn. Data Privacy Enforcement Takeaways For Cos.

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    In light of the Connecticut attorney general's recently released report on its enforcement of the Connecticut Data Privacy Act, which focuses on companies' privacy policies, protections of sensitive data and more, businesses can expect increased enforcement scrutiny — especially in areas that are the subject of consumer complaints, say Paul Pittman and Abdul Hafiz at White & Case.

  • How Firms Can Ensure Associate Gender Parity Lasts

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    Among associates, women now outnumber men for the first time, but progress toward gender equality at the top of the legal profession remains glacially slow, and firms must implement time-tested solutions to ensure associates’ gender parity lasts throughout their careers, say Kelly Culhane and Nicole Joseph at Culhane Meadows.

  • Regulatory Trends Offer 4 Lessons For Debt Relief Providers

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    A string of enforcement actions, including a New York lawsuit filed last month by seven states and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, underscore the regulatory scrutiny that debt relief and credit repair companies face and offer important lessons on telemarketing and deceptive practices compliance, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Bracing Cos. For Calif. Privacy Agency's Restored Authority

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    A recent California state appeals court decision greenlights the California Privacy Protection Agency's enforcement of certain consumer privacy regulations, which may speed up compliance requirements, so businesses considering use of artificial intelligence, for instance, may want to reassess their handling of privacy notices and opt-out requests, say Kevin Angle and Matthew Cin at Ropes & Gray.

  • 7 Common Myths About Lateral Partner Moves

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    As lateral recruiting remains a key factor for law firm growth, partners considering a lateral move should be aware of a few commonly held myths — some of which contain a kernel of truth, and some of which are flat out wrong, says Dave Maurer at Major Lindsey.

  • 2 Emerging Defenses For Website Tracking Class Actions

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    Putative class actions premised on state wiretapping statutes that bar website activity tracking continue to be on the rise, but they are increasingly being dismissed on two procedural grounds, says Sheri Pan at ZwillGen.

  • No AI FRAUD Act Is A Significant Step For Right Of Publicity

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    The No Artificial Intelligence Fake Replicas and Unauthorized Duplications Act's proposed federal right of publicity protection, including post-mortem rights, represents a significant step toward harmonizing the landscape of right of publicity law, Rachel Hofstatter and Aaron Rosenthal at Honigman.

  • Series

    Cheering In The NFL Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Balancing my time between a BigLaw career and my role as an NFL cheerleader has taught me that pursuing your passions outside of work is not a distraction, but rather an opportunity to harness important skills that can positively affect how you approach work and view success in your career, says Rachel Schuster at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Keeping Up With Class Actions: Data Breach Litigation In Flux

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    In this monthly look at notable class action decisions, Gerald Maatman at Duane Morris examines a recent mixed-bag data breach ruling from an Illinois federal court — in the context of case law developments over the last year — which illustrates the range of issues confronting litigants going forward.

  • Considerations For Disclosing AI Use In SEC Filings

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    Recent remarks from U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler should be heard as a clarion call for public companies to disclose artificial intelligence use, with four takeaways on what companies should disclose, says Richard Hong at Morrison Cohen.

  • Using Arbitration And Class Waivers As Privacy Suit Tools

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    Amid a surge in data breach class actions over the last few years, several federal court decisions indicate that arbitration clauses and class action waiver provisions can be possible alternatives to public court battles and potentially reduce the costs of privacy litigation, say Mark Olthoff and Courtney Klaus at Polsinelli.

  • 6 Pointers For Attys To Build Trust, Credibility On Social Media

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    In an era of information overload, attorneys can use social media strategically — from making infographics to leveraging targeted advertising — to cut through the noise and establish a reputation among current and potential clients, says Marly Broudie at SocialEyes Communications.

  • 5 Lessons For SaaS Companies After Blackbaud Data Breach

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    Looking at the enforcement actions that software-as-a-service provider Blackbaud resolved with state attorneys general, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission in the past year can help SaaS companies manage these increasingly common forms of data breaches, say attorneys at Orrick.

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