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Cybersecurity & Privacy
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February 23, 2024
Social Media Addiction Fight Akin To Big Tobacco, Judge Says
A California federal judge appeared skeptical Friday of dismissing claims by parents and children seeking to hold Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg liable in sprawling personal injury multidistrict litigation over social media's allegedly addictive design, comparing the addiction allegations to Big Tobacco cases that proceeded past the pleading stage.
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February 23, 2024
DOD Watchdog Flags Increased Emphasis On Contract Fraud
The U.S. Department of Defense's internal watchdog has been expending more effort to fight procurement fraud, in "a shift" from healthcare fraud being the primary focus for federal investigators, according to Inspector General Robert Storch.
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February 23, 2024
Fla. Doctor Says T-Mobile Let Hacker Steal Her SIM Card
A Tampa, Florida, doctor has sued T-Mobile for allegedly failing to stop a "SIM swap" hacker from transferring her personal phone account and then doing little to address the identity theft that followed, which involved the hacker trying to steal thousands from her retirement account and using her medical credentials to write more than 700 fraudulent prescriptions.
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February 23, 2024
Media, App Groups Wary Of Allowing Data Mining, AI Hacking
Publishers and entertainment industry groups have urged the government to reject proposed exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that would broaden protections for text-and-data mining and allow hackers to study biases in artificial intelligence models, raising concerns about infringement and cybersecurity.
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February 23, 2024
Ex-Dechert Atty Can Keep Depo Confidential In Hacking Case
A former Dechert LLP partner can keep her deposition under wraps in an airline mogul's suit seeking to prove an international hacking conspiracy, a special master in North Carolina has ruled in a blow to the tycoon, who accused the attorney of trying to shield misconduct.
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February 23, 2024
Eye Care Tech Co. Gets Go-Ahead For April Sale In Ch. 11
A Texas bankruptcy judge said Friday she will approve sale procedures that will put a troubled optometry software maker on the block in April, after the debtor said it will give creditors a few more days to respond if it decides to name a stalking horse bidder.
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February 23, 2024
Motorola, Mass. Police Sued For Using Intercepting Devices
Motorola sold technology that let the Massachusetts State Police make illegal, warrantless recordings during investigations, according to a federal class action filed by four men claiming to be subjects of the secret recordings.
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February 22, 2024
Stressful Atty Work Can Warrant Disability Pay, Judge Says
A Virginia federal judge held Wednesday that a cybersecurity attorney whose doctors advised that he stop working after heart surgery shouldn't have had his long-term disability benefits claim denied, ruling that a life insurance company ignored evidence that his job was highly stressful and that stress could be dangerous.
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February 22, 2024
FTC Lands $16.5M Privacy Deal Over Avast's 'Bait-And-Switch'
Cybersecurity software provider Avast LLC will pay $16.5 million and be banned from selling web browsing data for advertising purposes to resolve the Federal Trade Commission's claims that the company sold this information to more than 100 third parties despite promising to protect consumers from online tracking, the agency announced Thursday.
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February 22, 2024
Trump Atty Sanctioned For Filing IP Suit On Gut Feelings
A Florida federal judge has sanctioned an attorney who said he could "just know" if a product infringed his client's patents, rather than conducting a factual investigation — a move that the attorney claimed was backlash for representing former President Donald Trump elsewhere.
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February 22, 2024
Survey Website Must Clearly Say It's Selling Customers' Info
The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office on Thursday announced a settlement with a Colorado company that was allegedly selling the information of visitors to its website to telemarketers without disclosing what it was doing.
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February 22, 2024
YouTube Privacy Judge 'Flummoxed' By Kids' Liability Theory
A California federal judge indicated Thursday that she's open to trimming a revived proposed class action alleging Google and companies that host child-friendly YouTube channels illegally collected children's data from targeted ads, expressing concerns about the requested relief and saying she's "flummoxed" by the consumers' belated liability theory against the channels' owners.
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February 22, 2024
HHS' Civil Rights Office Reaches 2nd-Ever Ransomware Deal
The Department of Health and Human Services has reached a deal with a Maryland-based behavioral health practice over a ransomware attack that affected the protected health information of nearly 15,000 individuals.
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February 22, 2024
DOJ Reports $2.7B False Claims Act Haul In 2023
The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday released its latest data on recoveries under the False Claims Act, saying there were nearly $2.7 billion in settlements and judgments in the 2023 fiscal year, an increase from the prior year's haul.
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February 22, 2024
Comerica Brass Sued Over Benefit Cards Contract Oversight
Executives and directors of financial services company Comerica were hit with a shareholder derivative suit alleging they failed to disclose the company was mismanaging a lucrative government benefits card program by allowing sensitive data to be handled at an international vendor's office.
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February 22, 2024
Charter Argues For Tough IoT Security Authentication
As the Federal Communications Commission prepares to vote next month on a "U.S. Cyber Trust Mark" for Internet of Things devices, cable giant Charter said the FCC should require that eligible devices maintain secure access controls.
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February 22, 2024
'Baffled' Judge Tells Attys Flo Health Case Isn't 'World War III'
A California federal judge on Thursday blasted the parties in a proposed class action alleging that menstruation tracking app Flo Health impermissibly shares users' health information with Google and others, saying with their voluminous expert requests and "nitpicky" discovery letters, they're "litigating this case like it's World War III."
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February 22, 2024
HHS Warning to Congress: Health Data Breaches Surging
The number of large data breaches exposing protected health information more than doubled in a recent five-year period, reaching 626 incidents in 2022 that affected nearly 42 million people, federal officials said Thursday.
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February 22, 2024
AI Software Co. Hasn't Actually Developed AI, Suit Says
Software and data engineering company Innodata Inc. has been hit with a proposed class action alleging its stock price dropped more than 30% after a financial research firm published a report saying its promised artificial intelligence technology is "smoke and mirrors" and that its marketing claims are like "putting lipstick on a pig."
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February 22, 2024
Mich. Judge OKs $52M Deal For Mayo Foundation Subscribers
A Michigan federal judge on Wednesday gave the initial approval to a $52 million deal for subscribers to the Mayo Foundation's health magazine who allege the publisher shared their private information without consent.
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February 22, 2024
Ex-BigLaw Atty Refiles Defamation Case Against Influencer
The $150 million defamation battle between former Greenberg Traurig LLP attorney Allan Kassenoff and the social media influencer he accuses of lying about his nightmarish divorce has entered a new phase as Kassenoff has filed a slimmed-down complaint after the previous one was dismissed for being "far longer than it needs to be."
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February 22, 2024
Former Kamala Harris Tech Adviser Joins DOJ As 1st AI Chief
Faced with growing challenges involving artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, the U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday named a professor with ties to Vice President Kamala Harris as its first-ever adviser focused on these emerging technologies.
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February 21, 2024
Calif. Chamber Takes Privacy Regs Fight To State High Court
The California Chamber of Commerce is pressing the state's Supreme Court to overturn a ruling that allows California's new data privacy agency to begin enforcing regulations it has finalized, arguing that there's "no way" state voters envisioned companies having less than a year to comply with the rules.
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February 21, 2024
Voters Want Ga. Officials Sanctioned For Withheld Evidence
Voting rights advocates who faced off with Georgia election officials at trial last month are now seeking sanctions against the Coffee County, Georgia, board of elections and its attorneys for allegedly withholding evidence related to a January 2021 voting machine breach in the county and for knowingly allowing a witness to lie under oath.
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February 21, 2024
FTC Says Twitter Staff Prevented Musk Violating Privacy Order
The Federal Trade Commission told the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that were it not for Twitter employees disobeying Elon Musk's orders to grant some reporters "full access to everything ... no limits at all" to the social media platform's systems, the company may have violated a 2022 FTC consent decree.
Expert Analysis
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Series
Ill. Banking Brief: All The Notable Compliance Updates In Q3
The third quarter of 2023 saw Illinois lawmakers and the state Department of Financial and Professional Regulation focus their attention on expanding access to financial institutions' services and resources, including with increased eligibility for credit union membership and a new data collection regime for licensees, say Mark Svalina and James Morrissey at Vedder Price.
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Why Standing Analysis Is Key In Data Breach Mediation
Amid a growing wave of data breach class action litigation, recent legal developments show shifting criteria for Article III standing based on an increased risk of future identity theft, meaning parties must integrate assessments of standing into mediation discussions to substantiate their settlement demands in data breach class actions, says Abe Melamed at Signature Resolution.
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Opinion
Judicial Independence Needs Defense Amid Political Threats
Amid recent and historic challenges to the judiciary from political forces, safeguarding judicial independence and maintaining the integrity of the legal system is increasingly urgent, says Robert Peck at the Center for Constitutional Litigation.
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How Law Firms Can Use Account-Based Marketing Strategies
Amid several evolving legal industry trends, account-based marketing can help law firms uncover additional revenue-generating opportunities with existing clients, with key considerations ranging from data analytics to relationship building, say Jennifer Ramsey at stage LLC and consultant Gina Sponzilli.
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While Risks Exist, AI Could Transform IRS Enforcement
The Internal Revenue Service's recently announced use of artificial intelligence could revolutionize the agency's enforcement efforts, and transparency about its use and a forum for challenging AI findings could help mitigate fears that the technology will increase bias, say attorneys at Lewis Brisbois.
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Strategic Succession Planning At Law Firms Is Crucial
Senior partners' reluctance to retire, the rise of the nonequity partner tier and generational differences in expectations are all contributing to an increasing number of departures from BigLaw, making it imperative for firms to encourage retirement among senior ranks and provide clearer leadership pathways to junior attorneys, says Laura Leopard at Leopard Solutions.
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3 Items To Check When Evaluating AI Terms And Conditions
When determining which generative artificial intelligence tool is right for a particular user, there are a few considerations that can provide prospective customers with a starting place and help them spot terms and conditions that are more or less aggressive than the market standard, says Peter Cramer at Proskauer.
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Ruling Shows Barriers Remain For Kids' Privacy Regulation
A California federal court’s recent decision halting state officials from enforcing the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act demonstrates that major roadblocks continue to obstruct regulation intended to make browsing more appropriate for children, say attorneys at Goodwin.
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Autonomous Vehicles Must Navigate Patchwork Of State Regs
With only modest action by the federal government on the autonomous vehicle regulatory front in 2023, states and localities remain the predominant source of new regulations affecting AVs — but the result is a mix of rules that both help and hinder AV development and adoption, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.
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Maximizing Law Firm Profitability In Uncertain Times
As threats of an economic downturn loom, firms can boost profits by embracing the power of bottom-line management and creating an ecosystem where strategic financial oversight and robust timekeeping practices meet evolved client relations, says Shireen Hilal at Maior Strategic Consulting.
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Federal Policies Keeping Autonomous Vehicles In Slow Lane
In the first installment of this two-part article, attorneys at Faegre Drinker examine recent federal regulations and programs related to autonomous vehicles — and how the federal government's failure to implement a more comprehensive AV regulatory scheme may be slowing the progress of the industry.
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What The Export Controls Code Means For Emerging Tech
The U.S. recently hosted the inaugural plenary meeting on the Export Controls and Human Rights Initiative Code of Conduct, which foreshadowed that the code may have a considerable impact on future exports of new and emerging technologies, say Melissa Burgess and Burt Braverman at Davis Wright.
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Tech M&A Due Diligence Checklist: Sector-Specific Concerns
In an increasingly dynamic technology merger and acquisition landscape, there are seven high-impact diligence concerns that must be addressed early and with precision, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.
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5 DOJ Enforcement Priorities To Note From Recent Remarks
Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Marshall Miller’s recent speech provided a glimpse into the U.S. Department of Justice’s corporate criminal enforcement priorities — from national security concerns to mergers and acquisitions — with takeaways for companies’ compliance programs, say Joseph Jay and Jennifer Le at Sheppard Mullin.
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5th Circ. Ruling Reminds Attys That CBP Can Search Devices
The Fifth Circuit’s recent Malik v. Department of Homeland Security decision adds to the chorus of federal courts holding that border agents don’t need a warrant to search travelers’ electronic devices, so attorneys should consider certain special precautions to secure privileged information when reentering the U.S., says Jennifer Freel at Jackson Walker.