PrivacyRSS

  • March 21, 2012

    EU Unveils New Data Security Agency

    The European Union is slated to launch a new agency on Thursday that will be tasked with protecting the security of large government databases that hold citizens' personal information, a move made as the EU looks to ramp up national data protection requirements with a proposed legislative overhaul.

  • March 21, 2012

    2 Acai Marketers Settle FTC Suits Over Phony News Sites

    The Federal Trade Commission said Wednesday that it had reached a nearly $1.5 million deal with two online marketers to end lawsuits in Illinois and Michigan claiming they used fake news websites to trick customers into buying acai berry supplements and other purported weight-loss products.

  • March 21, 2012

    NY, Calif. Customers Sue Over Google's Privacy Rules

    Two putative class actions filed in California and New York federal courts Tuesday allege Google Inc. violated the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and other U.S. and state laws by storing and aggregating user data under its controversial new privacy policy.

  • March 21, 2012

    Ad Regulator Says Church & Dwight Should Tweak Claims

    An advertising industry self-regulator said Tuesday that while Church & Dwight Co. Inc. can back up its claim that people prefer its Arm & Hammer scented sensitive-skin laundry detergent over the leading competitor, the claim and others should be modified to avoid misleading consumers.

  • March 21, 2012

    NY Law School Ducks Class Action On Employment Data

    A New York state judge tossed out a suit against New York Law School on Wednesday in a decision that could hamper a series of putative class actions alleging law schools used deceptive employment and salary statistics to dupe students into attending.

  • March 21, 2012

    ADM, Others Fight Corn Syrup False Advertising Claims

    Attorneys for Archer Daniels Midland Co. and four other high-fructose corn syrup producers asked a California federal judge Wednesday to throw out allegations that they conspired to deceptively rebrand corn syrup as natural, saying they cannot be held liable for advertisements put out by their trade association.

  • March 21, 2012

    Judge Melds 3 Frito-Lay False Ad Actions In NY

    A New York federal judge on Tuesday consolidated three proposed class actions accusing Frito-Lay North America Inc. of falsely marketing its chips as "all-natural" even though they were allegedly made with genetically modified ingredients.

  • March 21, 2012

    GoDaddy Faces Class Action Over Charges For 'Free' Offer

    A disgruntled corporate customer lodged a putative class action against GoDaddy LLC in Arizona federal court Tuesday, accusing the Internet domain provider of illegally charging for private registration services it advertised as free.

  • March 21, 2012

    House Duo Seeks Cigarette-Like Warning On Video Games

    Two members of the U.S. House of Representatives introduced a bill Monday that would require most video games — even those rated as acceptable to everyone — to carry a label warning that playing violent games can lead to aggressive behavior.

  • March 20, 2012

    Facebook Bolsters Hill Clout With 2 Lobbyist Hires

    Facebook Inc. has hired a former aide to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and a Congressional Hispanic Caucus leader to bolster its outreach efforts, the company announced this week, following Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. in ramping up its Washington presence in the face of proposed privacy legislation and increased regulatory scrutiny.

  • March 20, 2012

    Ill. Appeals Court Blocks ComEd Smart-Grid Rate Hike

    An Illinois appeals court on Tuesday overturned an Illinois Commerce Commission ruling that Commonwealth Edison Co. could recoup from customers the cost of installing smart-grid technology, saying the proposal was effectively identical to one earlier deemed an improper single-issue rate change.

  • March 20, 2012

    Philippines, Singapore Eye EU-Style Data Protection Laws

    The Philippines and Singapore moved closer this week to implementing stricter data protection regimes modeled after the European Union's, with the Philippines Senate passing a data privacy act and a Singapore ministry clarifying key provisions in a proposed personal data protection bill.

  • March 20, 2012

    DC Circ. Prods NSA On FOIA Response To Google Doc Seekers

    A D.C. Circuit panel on Tuesday questioned the National Security Agency’s response to a Freedom of Information Act request for materials related to a purported cybersecurity agreement with Google Inc., saying it hadn’t seen enough evidence to justify the NSA’s refusal to comply.

  • March 20, 2012

    Scotts Ad's Fertilizer Claims Are Bull, Rival Says

    Grass seed and fertilizer company Pennington Seed Inc. on Friday sued rival The Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. in federal court for false advertising and unfair competition law violations over Scotts' commercials that compare its grass fertilizer product to Pennington’s.

  • March 20, 2012

    Pfizer To Pay Oregon $3.3M To End Zyvox Marketing Suit

    Oregon's attorney general announced Monday the state had entered into a $3.3 million settlement with Pfizer Inc. ending a state court suit alleging deceptive marketing of the prescription antibiotic Zyvox.

  • March 20, 2012

    Michael Jackson Attys Get $2.5M In Secret Taping Case

    A private jet pilot convicted of invasion of privacy for secretly videotaping Michael Jackson and two attorneys traveling with the superstar on his way to turn himself in on child molestation charges in 2003 settled with the lawyers for $2.5 million on Friday.

  • March 19, 2012

    Calif. Arbitration Rulings Seek To Dodge Concepcion

    California state appeals courts are narrowly interpreting the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion ruling in arbitration disputes, but their apparent efforts to minimize the impact of the decision could draw a rebuke from the high court, attorneys say.

  • March 19, 2012

    LinkedIn Rebuts Claim It Plundered App Users' Contacts

    LinkedIn Corp. fought back Monday against a proposed class action filed last week in Texas claiming the company — along with Apple Inc., Facebook Inc. and over a dozen others — illegally accessed mobile app users' contact books, calling the allegations "baffling."

  • March 19, 2012

    French Data Watchdog Probes Google's New Privacy Rules

    A French computing privacy regulator sent Google Inc. a list of dozens of detailed questions Friday about the company's new privacy policy, after saying last month the policy might violate European data protection laws.

  • March 19, 2012

    FTC's Brill Calls For Tough Stance On Privacy Offenders

    Federal Trade Commissioner Julie Brill on Monday stressed the importance of using a regulatory approach that involves making examples out of the biggest privacy offenders in order to bolster the White House's proposed consumer privacy bill of rights.