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Cybersecurity & Privacy
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July 23, 2024
FTC Attys On Kroger Case Get Extensions After IT Outage
The administrative law judge overseeing the Federal Trade Commission's in-house challenge to Kroger and Albertsons' $25 billion merger has given the agency and the grocery behemoths two extra days on a couple of filing deadlines after the FTC said the worldwide Microsoft outage left several counsel laptops unusable.
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July 23, 2024
Senate Dems Roll Out Bill To Codify Chevron Deference
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., led a group of Democratic senators Tuesday in introducing a bill to codify the now-defunct doctrine of Chevron deference after it was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court last month.
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July 23, 2024
FCC Urged To Protect Public Safety In 5.9 GHz Band
A public interest group urged the Federal Communications Commission to keep public safety as the top priority for licensees of the 5.9 gigahertz airwaves as the FCC considers rules to allow advanced car connectivity uses in the band.
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July 23, 2024
Texas Legal Services Biz Escapes Most Data Breach Claims
A Texas federal judge has trimmed most claims in a proposed class action over a legal services company's data breach, leaving a negligence claim lodged by one plaintiff who alleges he was a victim of identity theft due to the breach.
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July 23, 2024
Clinic Gets NC Biz Court's Final OK For Hacking Suit Deal
A North Carolina Business Court judge granted final approval to a class action settlement between a physician-owned orthopedic practice and the current and former patients who took it to court over a data breach that exposed their private information, including their medical records.
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July 23, 2024
Chase, McKinsey Get FTC Inquiry Over 'Surveillance Pricing'
The Federal Trade Commission has issued orders to eight companies — including Mastercard, Chase, Accenture and McKinsey & Co. — seeking more information about the potential impact their practices of "surveillance pricing" products and services have on privacy, competition and consumer protection, the FTC said Tuesday.
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July 22, 2024
Verizon's TracFone Hit With $16M FCC Data Breach Penalty
Verizon's prepaid service subsidiary TracFone Wireless has agreed to shell out a $16 million civil penalty to resolve Federal Communications Commission probes into whether it failed to protect customer information during three data breaches, the agency announced Monday.
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July 22, 2024
FCC, Industry Debate If Brand X Case Set Broadband In Stone
Industry groups are pushing their case to the Sixth Circuit that the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules should be tossed because the demise of the Chevron doctrine trimmed agency's legal authority, but the FCC argues that the recent paring back of federal regulators' discretion means nothing for the agency's restrictions on broadband providers.
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July 22, 2024
Equifax Bracing For CFPB On Dispute-Handling, Coding Glitch
Equifax said Monday that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau plans to pursue fines over the credit reporting giant's handling of consumer disputes and a separate, short-lived "coding issue" that affected some credit score calculations in 2022.
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July 22, 2024
FCC Blames AT&T Network Change For 'Sunny Day' Outage
The Federal Communications Commission said Monday it will consider enforcement action after finding that an AT&T network change triggered a massive service outage in February, which blocked more than 92 million calls and 25,000 attempts to reach 911.
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July 22, 2024
Michigan's Cases To Watch 2024: A Midyear Report
Michigan's highest court is preparing to take on cases that could restore imperiled PFAS regulations, prevent employers from cutting short employees' window to file civil rights claims and expand the reach of Michigan's consumer protection law. Here are some of Michigan's most important cases to watch for the rest of the year.
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July 22, 2024
NC Hospital, Patients Nearing Deal In Hacking Suit
Columbus Regional Healthcare System and the patients who accused it of failing to properly protect their personal information at its North Carolina hospital have reached a tentative settlement agreement, according to a new notice asking the Tar Heel State's business court to pause proceedings while they hash it out.
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July 22, 2024
Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court
A $6 million bank fee, a $42.5 million shopping mall deal, some questionable Amazon deliveries and long-ago expired ketchup: it was all part of the comings and goings in Delaware's Court of Chancery last week. New cases involved mining and cybersecurity companies, board takeovers, "weaponized" director election provisions, and legal fees following a $3.1 billion telecom merger. In case you missed it, here's the latest from the Chancery Court.
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July 22, 2024
LA Superior Court Closed Monday Due To Ransomware Attack
The Superior Court of Los Angeles County was forced to close Monday as the court continued to work to repair and reboot network systems that were severely impacted by a ransomware attack that occurred on the same day as an unrelated global tech outage.
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July 22, 2024
Meta Hit With Fresh Complaint Over 'Pay Or Consent' Model
Meta has been hit with a complaint from European consumer protection authorities, which fear that the tech giant's "pay or consent" business model for Facebook and Instagram misleads its users, the European Commission said on Monday.
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July 19, 2024
9th Circ. Judge Open To Reversing Google's Privacy Win
A Ninth Circuit judge appeared receptive Friday to reversing Google's summary judgment win in Chrome users' proposed privacy class action, telling Google's counsel that the standard is what a reasonable consumer would expect and "you have a much higher opinion of the average intelligence of the computer user than I."
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July 19, 2024
Pornhub's Parent Co. Seeks Exit From Trafficking Class Action
MindGeek asked a California federal judge Friday to end a class action filed by individuals who alleged its company Pornhub published sexually explicit videos of them as minors, arguing there's no evidence showing MindGeek promoted child pornography on its sites, and that it removed the videos upon request.
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July 19, 2024
More Airwaves Needed For Power Grid Upgrades, FCC Told
Power companies are calling on the Federal Communications Commission to help free up more spectrum for utilities, telling the agency that opening up spectrum currently committed to public safety use could be a win-win.
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July 19, 2024
Oracle Inks $115M Deal To End Consumer Data Collection Suit
Oracle America Inc. agreed to pay $115 million to resolve a proposed class action alleging the software company illegally sold internet users' electronic profiles, consumers told a California federal judge, putting to rest a case that has stretched on for nearly two years.
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July 19, 2024
How Did The Global Tech Outage Impact Transportation?
The overnight global tech outage that prompted a cascade of flight delays and cancellations and disruptions to certain transit, shipping and port operations, left transportation providers and other critical infrastructure reeling and wondering how to avoid further crippling computer failures.
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July 19, 2024
SEC Wins $1.1M Penalty Against Crypto CEO
A New York federal judge ordered the CEO of bitcoin mining firm MGT Capital Investments Inc. to pay a $1.1 million civil penalty for making misstatements in contribution to an alleged pump-and-dump scheme, even though the defendant had argued the impact of his statements on investors was negligible.
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July 19, 2024
SolarWinds' Ruling 'No Comfort' For Cybersecurity Leaders
Although a federal district court has struck down significant portions of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's data breach case against software developer SolarWinds Corp., attorneys say what remains of the lawsuit gives "no comfort" to chief information security officers hoping to avoid similar suits over statements about their company's cybersecurity practices.
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July 19, 2024
Jury Finds Booking.com Owes Ryanair $5K For Data Scraping
Irish discount airline Ryanair has convinced a Delaware federal jury to find that online travel website giant Booking.com should pay $5,000 for using screen scraping software in a way that ran afoul of computer fraud laws, which the airline likened to "internet piracy."
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July 19, 2024
House AI Report Is 'Blueprint' For Coming Committee Action
The House Financial Services Committee is poised to take on a "leading role" in regulating the use of artificial intelligence in financial services, according to a new congressional report highlighting the importance of antidiscrimination and data privacy guardrails.
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July 19, 2024
Plaintiffs Drop Digital 'Wiretap' Suit Over Marketing Software
The plaintiffs in a proposed class action accusing a Colorado software service provider of illegally eavesdropping on visitors' interactions with the CVS.com website have voluntarily dropped their suit, according to a notice filed Friday.
Expert Analysis
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What Employers Need To Know About Colorado's New AI Law
The Colorado AI Act, enacted in May and intended to regulate the use of high-risk artificial intelligence systems to prevent algorithmic discrimination, is broad in scope and will apply to businesses using AI for certain employment purposes, imposing numerous compliance obligations and potential liability, say Laura Malugade and Owen Davis at Husch Blackwell.
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5 Critical Factors Driving Settlement Values In Cyber Litigation
Recent ransomware incidents and their legal repercussions offer five valuable insights into the determinants of settlement values in cyberattack-related litigation, and understanding these trends and their implications can better prepare organizations for the potential legal fallout from future breaches, says Peter Kamminga at JAMS.
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How Associates Can Build A Professional Image
As hybrid work arrangements become the norm in the legal industry, early-career attorneys must be proactive in building and maintaining a professional presence in both physical and digital settings, ensuring that their image aligns with their long-term career goals, say Lana Manganiello at Equinox Strategy Partners and Estelle Winsett at Estelle Winsett Professional Image Consulting.
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Firms Must Rethink How They Train New Lawyers In AI Age
As law firms begin to use generative artificial intelligence to complete lower-level legal tasks, they’ll need to consider new ways to train summer associates and early-career attorneys, keeping in mind the five stages of skill acquisition, says Liisa Thomas at Sheppard Mullin.
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What 4 Cyber Protection Actions Mean For Marine Transport
Several recent steps by the Biden administration are necessary to address the cyber threats that increasingly disrupt the maritime sector, but also impose new legal risks, liabilities and operating costs on the owners and operators of U.S.-flagged vessels and facilities, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.
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Cyber Takeaways For Cos. From Verizon Data Breach Report
Camilo Artiga-Purcell at Kiteworks analyzes the key findings of the 2024 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report from a legal perspective, examining the implications for organizations' cybersecurity strategies and compliance efforts.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Always Be Closing
When a lawyer presents their case with the right propulsive structure throughout trial, there is little need for further argument after the close of evidence — and in fact, rehashing it all may test jurors’ patience — so attorneys should consider other strategies for closing arguments, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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Takeaways From Nat'l Security Division's Historic Declination
The Justice Department National Security Division's recent decision not to prosecute a biochemical company for an employee's export control violation marks its first declination under a new corporate enforcement policy, sending a clear message to companies that self-disclosure of misconduct may confer material benefits, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.
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Lessons From Epic's Dutch Fine For Unfair Marketing To Kids
Dutch regulators' imposition of a €1.1 million fine on Epic Games for unfair commercial practices targeting children marks a significant moment in the ongoing scrutiny of digital market practices, and follows an increased focus on children's online safety in the U.S. and European Union, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.
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Opinion
California Has A Duty To Curtail Frivolous CIPA Suits
As plaintiffs increasingly file class actions against companies for their use of website tracking cookies and pixels, the Legislature should consider four options to amend the California Invasion of Privacy Act and restore the balance between consumer privacy and business operational interests, say Steven Stransky and Jennifer Adler at Thompson Hine and Glenn Lammi at the Washington Legal Foundation.
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Risks And Promises Of AI In The Financial Services Industry
Generative artificial intelligence has immense potential to revolutionize the financial services industry, but firms considering its use should first prepare to show their customers and the increasingly divided international regulatory community that they can manage the risks inherent to the new technology, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.
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Playing The Odds: Criminal Charges Related To Sports Betting
In light of recent sports betting scandals involving MLB player Shohei Ohtani and NBA player Jontay Porter, institutions and individuals involved in athletics should be aware of and prepared to address the legal issues, including potential criminal charges, that sports gambling may bring to their door, say attorneys at Steptoe.
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Series
Playing Chess Makes Me A Better Lawyer
There are many ways that chess skills translate directly into lawyer skills, but for me, the bigger career lessons go beyond the direct parallels — playing chess has shown me the value of seeing gradual improvement in and focusing deep concentration on a nonwork endeavor, says attorney Steven Fink.
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Key FCC Enforcement Issues In AT&T Location Data Appeal
AT&T’s decision to challenge a $57 million fine from the Federal Communications Commission for its alleged treatment of customer location information highlights interesting and fundamental issues about the constitutionality of FCC enforcement, say Patrick O’Donnell and Jason Neal at HWG.
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Crafting An Effective Workplace AI Policy After DOL Guidance
Employers should take proactive steps to minimize their liability risk after the U.S. Department of Labor released artificial intelligence guidance principles on May 16, reflecting the reality that companies must begin putting into place policies that will dictate their expectations for how employees will use AI, say David Disler and Courtnie Bolden at Porzio Bromberg.