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Cybersecurity & Privacy
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February 12, 2025
OpenAI Says Musk Takeover Bid 'Exposes' Intent Behind Suit
OpenAI on Thursday told a California federal judge overseeing Elon Musk's lawsuit seeking to block OpenAI from becoming a for-profit enterprise that the Tesla founder has proposed acquiring OpenAI's business, saying the takeover effort reveals Musk's lawsuit to be "an improper bid to undermine a competitor."
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February 12, 2025
DOJ Removes For-Cause Protection For FTC, Other Agencies
The U.S. Department of Justice has determined that for-cause removals for members of the Federal Trade Commission, National Labor Relations Board and Consumer Product Safety Commission are unconstitutional, acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris informed Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., ranking Democrat of the Senate Judiciary Committee, in a letter Wednesday.
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February 12, 2025
Colo. Judge Tosses Online Fax Co.'s Junk Ad Suit
A Colorado federal judge dismissed an online fax service provider's Telephone Consumer Protection Act suit alleging a group of companies overwhelmed its system with "junk" faxes, finding in a Wednesday order that the law's prohibition specifically applies to a "machine" that receives and prints faxes.
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February 12, 2025
Dementia Society, CEO Must Face Workplace Spying Suit
Three former Dementia Society of America employees who claim they found listening devices hidden in their workspaces can move forward with their lawsuit against the nonprofit, a Pennsylvania federal judge has ruled, holding that that they put forth plausible claims that the organization violated the federal and Pennsylvania wiretap acts.
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February 12, 2025
Western Digital Told To Pay $553M Sooner Rather Than Later
Hard drive manufacturer Western Digital now has less than seven days to put up over half a billion dollars to satisfy a patent judgment after a California federal judge said he "has concerns about potential corporate restructuring."
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February 12, 2025
Allstate Hit With Another Class Action Over Data Collection
Allstate has been hit with another proposed class action in Illinois federal court accusing the auto insurer of illegally obtaining the personal driving data of millions of policyholders via software embedded in third-party apps and using that data for the insurer's own underwriting purposes.
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February 12, 2025
OPM Violated Employees' Privacy Rights, Unions Say
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management violated federal privacy laws when it gave Elon Musk's recently established Department of Government Efficiency access to its employment records, unions representing federal employees and administrative law judges said in a lawsuit filed in New York federal court.
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February 12, 2025
Mnuchin, Others Face Fiduciary Suit From Cybersecurity CEO
The CEO of AI-driven cybersecurity venture Cybereason has sued former U.S. treasury secretary and company director Steven Mnuchin, along with others, in Delaware's Court of Chancery over financing roadblocks that allegedly threaten to tip the company into bankruptcy.
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February 12, 2025
Google Must Face Wiretapping Suit Over AI-Powered Assistant
A California federal judge has refused to toss a proposed class action accusing Google of using a "human-like" customer-service product powered by artificial intelligence to illegally eavesdrop on users' calls with Hulu, Verizon and others, finding the consumers adequately allege Google is a third party that can benefit from the data.
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February 12, 2025
Treasury Chief Exempt From Block On DOGE's System Access
A New York federal judge clarified that an order blocking Elon Musk and members of his Department of Government Efficiency team from accessing U.S. Treasury Department payment systems does not apply to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
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February 12, 2025
Meta User Antitrust Suit Gets Nov. 17 Trial Date
A California federal judge has set a Nov. 17 trial date for accusations that Meta monopolized the social media advertising market weeks after he declined to certify a class of Facebook users that would have numbered in the millions.
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February 12, 2025
Starbucks Accused Of Flouting Mass. Polygraph Hiring Law
Starbucks is ignoring a Massachusetts law requiring employers to inform job-seekers that the state doesn't allow the use of lie detector tests in employment decisions, according to a putative class action filed in state court.
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February 11, 2025
Trump Tells Agencies To Plan 'Large-Scale' Cuts With Musk
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday that directs agencies to prepare for "large-scale" cuts to the federal workforce and gives Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency the authority to approve the future hiring of career officials.
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February 11, 2025
Wash. Health Privacy Law Debuts In Amazon Tracking Suit
A Washington resident has launched the first claims under the state's groundbreaking health privacy law, as part of a proposed class action accusing Amazon of unlawfully harvesting location data from tens of millions of mobile phone users through third-party apps that are running the company's software development kit.
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February 11, 2025
DOGE, Treasury Accused Of 'Largest' US Data Breach
Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management conducted the "largest" data and IT security breaches in U.S. history, illegally exposing millions of people's sensitive information, a data privacy watchdog and group of federal employees alleged this week.
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February 11, 2025
Ex-NY Gov. Aide And Husband Deny Foreign Agent Charges
A former aide to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Linda Sun, and her husband on Tuesday pled not guilty to a superseding indictment that accuses her of secretly acting as an agent of China's government and adds new money laundering charges against her spouse.
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February 11, 2025
Progressive Inks $3.25M Data Breach Deal With 350K Members
Approximately 350,000 Progressive Casualty Insurance customers on Tuesday asked an Ohio federal judge to grant final approval to a $3.25 million settlement stemming from a data breach event that exposed their personal information, noting the resolution is a favorable outcome, given the risks to their claims if litigation continued.
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February 11, 2025
2 Russians Arrested In $16M Phobos Ransomware Scheme
Two Russian nationals were arrested on charges of operating a cybercrime cell that extorted about $16 million from victims around the world by stealing data and demanding a ransom for its return, Maryland federal prosecutors said Tuesday.
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February 11, 2025
9th Circ. Doubts X Plaintiff Can Revive Phone Data Suit
A Ninth Circuit panel on Tuesday questioned whether a lawsuit targeting social platform X could be revived and remanded to state court, with one judge suggesting circuit precedent established a privacy right that keeps the case in federal court, and another saying the lower court had "broad discretion" in deciding to dismiss the case.
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February 11, 2025
Ex-Employee Sues Fla. News Database Co. Over Data Breach
An Oklahoma resident has brought a proposed federal class action over a data breach against a Florida-based news database company, alleging that she was an employee and that her former employer didn't do enough to adequately protect her personal information from being stolen.
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February 11, 2025
No Prison For Firm Manager Who Aided Feds' No-Fault Bust
A Manhattan federal judge allowed a wealthy law firm manager to avoid prison Tuesday for his role in paying bribes that fueled a $70 million no-fault automobile insurance fraud racket, citing his decision to cooperate with prosecutors and willingness to testify.
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February 11, 2025
Factual Dispute Keeps Walmart BIPA Suit In Court, For Now
An Illinois jury will determine whether a driver for Walmart's grocery delivery platform Spark signed an arbitration agreement during his onboarding before a federal judge can decide whether his underlying biometric privacy claims should be redirected away from court, the judge said Tuesday.
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February 11, 2025
FTC Bureau Heads Include DOJ Alum With Big Tech Mandate
The Federal Trade Commission named its new competition and consumer protection bureau chiefs Monday, tapping for its top competition enforcer the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division's civil conduct head, praised specifically for his "experience taking on Big Tech."
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February 11, 2025
Fla. Judge OKs $7M Deal In Health Data Breach Class Action
A Florida federal judge Tuesday granted final approval of a $7 million class action settlement as part of multidistrict litigation over the theft of personal information from millions of U.S. citizens in a health data breach linked to a Russian ransomware group.
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February 11, 2025
DC Circ. Won't Pause Google Search Case For Apple Appeal
The D.C. Circuit refused to pause the government's search monopolization case against Google while Apple appeals a ruling that denied its bid to participate in a coming April trial meant to determine what remedies to impose on Google for violating antitrust law.
Expert Analysis
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Recent Securities Cases Highlight Risks In AI Disclosures
Increasing public disclosure about the use and risks of artificial intelligence, and related litigation asserting that such disclosures are false or misleading, suggest that issuers need to exercise great care with respect to how they describe the benefits of AI, say Richard Zelichov and Danny Tobey at DLA Piper.
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Opinion
This Election, We Need To Talk About Court Process
In recent decades, the U.S. Supreme Court has markedly transformed judicial processes — from summary judgment standards to notice pleadings — which has, in turn, affected individuals’ substantive rights, and we need to consider how the upcoming presidential election may continue this pattern, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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Navigating HHS' New Reproductive Healthcare Privacy Rule
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' new final rule regarding protections for the privacy of reproductive health information will require regulated entities to grapple with difficult questions about whether to comply with state law requirements or federal privacy prohibitions, says Christine Chasse at Spencer Fane.
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Series
Playing Diplomacy Makes Us Better Lawyers
Similar to the practice of law, the rules of Diplomacy — a strategic board game set in pre-World War I Europe — are neither concise nor without ambiguity, and weekly gameplay with our colleagues has revealed the game's practical applications to our work as attorneys, say Jason Osborn and Ben Bevilacqua at Winston & Strawn.
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Open Questions In Unsettled Geofence Warrant Landscape
The Fourth and Fifth Circuits recently reached radically divergent conclusions about the constitutionality of geofence warrants, creating an uncertain landscape in which defendants should assert and preserve the full range of conventional Fourth Amendment challenges, says Charles Fowler at McKool Smith.
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A Look At 5 States' New Data Privacy Laws
With new data privacy laws in Utah, Florida, Texas, Oregon and Montana recently in effect or coming into force this year, state-level enforcement of data privacy creates significant challenges and risks for how businesses interact with employees and consumers, and for companies that provide and use technologies in multiple jurisdictions, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.
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Antitrust In Retail: Why FTC Is Studying 'Surveillance Pricing'
The Federal Trade Commission's decision to study targeted "surveillance pricing" should provide greater clarity into the nature of the data aggregation industry, but also raises several issues, including whether these practices are in fact illegal under any established interpretations of U.S. antitrust law, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.
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Mental Health First Aid: A Brief Primer For Attorneys
Amid a growing body of research finding that attorneys face higher rates of mental illness than the general population, firms should consider setting up mental health first aid training programs to help lawyers assess mental health challenges in their colleagues and intervene with compassion, say psychologists Shawn Healy and Tracey Meyers.
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Licensing And Protections For Voice Actors In The Age Of AI
While two recently enacted California laws and other recent state and federal legislation largely focus on protecting actors and musicians from the unauthorized use of their digital likenesses by generative artificial intelligence systems, the lesser-known community of professional voice actors also stands to benefit, says attorney Scott Mortman.
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2 High Court Securities Cases Could Clarify Pleading Rules
In granting certiorari in a pair of securities fraud cases against Facebook and Nvidia, respectively, the U.S. Supreme Court has signaled its intention to align interpretations of the heightened pleading standard under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act amid its uneven application among the circuit courts, say attorneys at V&E.
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What 2 Key Rulings Mean For Solicitation Under TCPA
Two recent rulings from federal district courts in New York and California — each of which came to a different conclusion — bring to light courts' continued focus on and analysis of when an alleged communication constitutes a solicitation under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, say Felix Shipkevich and Jessica Livingston at Shipkevich.
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Series
Collecting Art Makes Me A Better Lawyer
The therapeutic aspects of appreciating and collecting art improve my legal practice by enhancing my observation skills, empathy, creativity and cultural awareness, says attorney Michael McCready.
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Navigating The Complexities Of Cyber Incident Reporting
When it comes to cybersecurity incident response plans, the uptick in the number and targets of legal and regulatory actions emphasizes the necessity for businesses to document the facts underlying the assumptions, complexities and obstacles of their decisions during the incident response, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
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Managing Sanctions Defense Across Multiple Jurisdictions
Companies called before multiple regulators to account for the same conduct in this era of increased global sanctions and import-control enforcement should consider national differences in law and policy, and proactively coordinate their responses in certain key areas, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.
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Litigation Inspiration: Honoring Your Learned Profession
About 30,000 people who took the bar exam in July will learn they passed this fall, marking a fitting time for all attorneys to remember that they are members in a specialty club of learned professionals — and the more they can keep this in mind, the more benefits they will see, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.