Recent News
Spotting Text Message Scams
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reports that text message scams cost $330 million in losses in 2022. Being alert to scams and educating employees about them can protect your company, your employees, and your data from catastrophic consequences. In 2022, the FTC indicated that these were the top text message scams: #1: #1: Copycat Bank…
Congressional Research Service Addresses Privacy Implications of Generative AI
The report explains: Generative AI models have received significant attention and scrutiny due to their potential harms, such as risks involving privacy, misinformation, copyright, and non-consensual sexual imagery. This report focuses on privacy issues and relevant policy considerations for Congress. Some policymakers and stakeholders have raised privacy concerns about how individual data may be used…
EU Greenlights EU-US Data Privacy Framework
Under the European Data Directive and its successor, the General Data Protection Regulation, data of a European subject may be transferred out of the EU only via an approved international framework or through approved Standard Contract Clauses (SCC) contained in Data Protection Agreements or binding corporate rules approved by the relevant data protection authority. Beginning…
A Dozen Reasons to Update Your Privacy Policies
There are now a dozen states that have enacted comprehensive privacy legislation similar in many respects to California’s landmark comprehensive privacy law, with Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Montana, Oregon, Texas, Tennessee, and Utah each enacting laws this year. A list of the laws, their effective date (laws in effect are in bold), and applicable cure period…
FTC Takes on Noncompete Clauses As Harmful to Workers and Competition
In January, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed a new rule that would ban employers from imposing noncompete clauses on their workers (employees, contractors, interns etc.) and require employers to rescind existing noncompete clauses and inform workers that they are no longer in effect. The FTC described the practice as an “often exploitative practice that…
FTC Seeks Penalty Authority for Fake Reviews
The Federal Trade Commission intends to issue new rules to address fake reviews that would include a penalty of up to $50,120 per fake review. The FTC has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPR) and there will be a sixty-day comment period once the rule is published in the Federal Register. The FTC cited…
Presenting at IP and the Internet on the FTC and Online Reviews
On Wednesday, July 27, I will be presenting at the California Lawyers Association IP Section’s conference on IP and the Internet, on the topic of the FTC and Online Reviews. Participation is virtual. 2022 IP AND THE INTERNET JULY 27 @ 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM Schedule Link Registration Link
American Airlines Data Scraping Case Survives Motion to Dismiss
In April, the 9th Circuit again affirmed that scraping data from a public website did not by itself constitute a violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”). HiQ Labs, Inc. v. LinkedIn Corporation, Case No. No. 17-16783 (9th Cir. April 18, 2022). See Ninth Circuit Again Holds Data Scraping From Public Websites Not…
Copyright Claims Board Begins Accepting Cases
In December 2020, Congress passed the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act of 2020 (CASE Act), which directed the Copyright Office to establish the Copyright Claims Board (CCB). As explained by the Copyright Office, the CCB is a three-member tribunal within the Office that provides an “efficient and user-friendly option to resolve certain copyright disputes that…