Privacy Law

Report: More Smartphone Owners Than Cellphone Owners Report Privacy Breaches

The smarter the phone, the smarter you’d better be—or at least knowledgeable and vigilant. That’s the takeaway from a new report out of the Pew Research Center concerning privacy and mobile devices. More owners of smartphones (15 percent) than regular cellphones (8 percent) say someone “has accessed their phone in…

Sep 6, 2012 6:30 PM CDT

Restaurants May Be Tracking You, But Fear of Lawsuits Inspires Tasteful Limits

In restaurant lingo, LOL does not stand for “laughing out loud.” Instead, it is an acronym for “little old lady,” and it is included in some restaurant computers to indicate a diner who may need special seating, the New York Times reports. HWC may mean “handle with care,” SFN may…

Sep 6, 2012 10:30 AM CDT

Homeland Security’s Chief Privacy Officer to Lead New Practice Group at Jenner

Jenner & Block has formed a new practice group for privacy matters and hired a government privacy expert to head it. Mary Ellen Callahan, the chief privacy officer at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, will lead Jenner’s privacy and information governance practice from the firm’s Washington, D.C., office, according…

Sep 5, 2012 3:55 PM CDT

Lawyer Documents Her Data Trail, Revealing Corporate Role in Daily Lives

Big brother is a corporation, and it’s watching. The executive director of the National Lawyers Guild, Heidi Boghosian, documented her one-day “data trail” for the New York Times blog the Caucus. Boghosian has written a book expected to be published next year called Spying on Democracy: A Short History of…

Sep 5, 2012 11:00 AM CDT

No Hiding It: Secrecy Is a Goner

The digital revolution has rendered secrecy largely a thing of the past for governments and the business community, said speakers at an annual meeting program marking the 50th anniversary of the Standing Committee on Law and National Security. “We have to recognize that we cannot keep secrets anymore, and we…

Sep 1, 2012 5:50 AM CDT

Record $22.5M Google Pact Sparks Self-Scrutiny by Other Companies re Privacy, Data Security

It isn’t just individuals who can find companies’ privacy and data security policies confusing. Companies themselves don’t always follow their own rules for protecting user information. Now, in the wake of a record $22.5 million settlement by Google Inc. with the Federal Trade Commission, albeit without admitting any liability, other…

Aug 21, 2012 10:07 PM CDT

Judge Wants to Know if Facebook Settlement Terms Were ‘Plucked from Thin Air’

A federal judge in San Francisco has refused to approve a settlement that doesn’t award any money to class members in a suit over a Facebook advertising feature that published users’ “likes.” U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg asked litigants to prove some settlement terms weren’t “merely plucked from thin air,”…

Aug 20, 2012 12:31 PM CDT

Facebook, Looking Toward Privacy & Child Protection Issues, Hires Patton Boggs Lawyer/Lobbyist

Facebook has hired Kevin Martin, a Patton Boggs partner and former Federal Communications Commission chairman, as a lobbyist. According to the Blog of the Legal Times, the Washington, D.C., lawyer will focus on privacy, child protection, online security and tax policy issues for the social media giant. Martin headed the…

Aug 16, 2012 4:01 PM CDT

6th Circuit OKs Warrantless Tracking of Cellphones

Tracking a user’s cellphone location without a warrant using GPS technology is different than putting a GPS tracking device on a motorist’s vehicle without a warrant, a federal appeals court says. Hence, the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the drug conviction of a man found with…

Aug 15, 2012 8:31 PM CDT

Pop Star Noelia’s Secret Wedding Photos Were Private, Federal Appeals Court Rules

In a case that the court said “reads like a telenovela, a Spanish soap opera,” a divided 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a Spanish-language celebrity gossip magazine violated the rights of a well-known couple when it published private wedding photographs apparently stolen by the couple’s driver.…

Aug 15, 2012 11:13 AM CDT

Cybersecurity Is Top of Mind for General Counsel and Co. Directors

For the first time in 12 years of surveying general counsel and corporate directors of public companies, data from the “Law and the Boardroom Study” show that data security is the top concern. The annual survey by FTI Consulting and Corporate Board Member reached out to 1,957 general counsel and…

Aug 15, 2012 10:07 AM CDT

Medical Photos May Be Posted Online with Patient Names, Says Lawyer for 8 Ex-Patients of Mo. Doctor

Ten women who reportedly agreed to let a St. Louis plastic surgeon put before-and-after photos of their augmented breasts on the Internet are now suing in federal court there, contending that Dr. Michele Koo violated their privacy by linking their names to the photos, which otherwise would not have been…

Aug 14, 2012 7:57 PM CDT

Federal Judge in Florida OKs Red-Light Ticket Info Release, Says Legal Proceeding Record Is Public

A federal judge in Florida says a contractor hired by the city of Tallahassee must disclose red-light-camera traffic ticket information to a newspaper that requested it, despite an arguable conflict between state public records law and a federal statute that protects the privacy of drivers. Fearing potential penalties for violating…

Aug 14, 2012 5:00 PM CDT

Prosecutor Loses $129K Job, Is Accused of Creating Hostile Work Environment via ‘Spy Pen’ Photos

A longtime Connecticut prosecutor accused of creating a hostile work environment for female colleagues and court workers by secretly videotaping their legs with a “spy pen” in and around court and at his office was fired Friday from his $129,000-a-year job. Senior Assistant Danbury State’s Attorney David Holzbach, 52, had…

Aug 9, 2012 8:44 PM CDT

Google Fined Record $22.5M by FTC re Claimed Safari Privacy Violations on Macs, iPhones and iPads

Google Inc. has agreed to pay a record $22.5 million fine to the Federal Trade Commission for allegedly overriding privacy settings on Apple computer users’ Safari browsers in order to track individuals’ Web-surfing behavior. The fine is both the first ever assessed by the FTC for an Internet privacy violation…

Aug 9, 2012 4:34 PM CDT