Category: Litigation & Regulator Actions
FTC Increasingly Looks to Public Companies’ SEC Disclosures for Privacy and Cybersecurity Enforcement Opportunities
While the FTC does not make its initial privacy and cybersecurity investigations public, there have been reports that the FTC has initiated an increasing number of privacy and cybersecurity-related enforcement actions following disclosures of privacy or cybersecurity incidents by public companies in their SEC filings.
LinkedIn Data Scraping Case Shows 9th Circ. Shift On CFAA
When may a company legally scrape data from another company’s website? Does it matter whether the website is open to the public or only to logged-in users? This is a contested area of law under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, 18 U.S.C. Section 1030, the federal statute that imposes […]
Ninth Circuit Restricts Immunity for Filtering Objectionable Content
Companies that make anti-virus and similar software that helps internet users guard against dangerous online content must now think twice about whether they can be sued for their decisions about what content to filter. This is the result of a significant ruling last month by the United States Court of […]
Standing to be Dismissed – The U.S. D.D.C. Weighs in on “Actual Damage” in Data Breach Litigation
In Attias v. CareFirst, Inc., the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (D.D.C.) jumpstarted the debate concerning the harm plaintiffs must allege to move forward with data breach class action litigation. In recent years, courts across the country have disagreed about what constitutes an “injury-in-fact” when an individual’s […]
SEC Poised to Ramp up Cybersecurity Enforcement
On October 16, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued an investigative report signaling its intent to use sections 13(b)(2)(B)(i) and (iii) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) to pursue enforcement actions against public companies that fail to tailor their internal controls to evolving cyber […]
Ohio Enacts Liability “Safe Harbor” for Entities That Maintain Specified Cybersecurity Programs
On August 3, 2018, Ohio Governor John R. Kasich announced that he signed Substitute Senate Bill 220 (“SB 220” or “Bill”) that, in part, affords a litigation “safe harbor” to covered entities that implement, maintain, and comply with specified cybersecurity programs. Covered entities, e.g., businesses, sued after a data breach […]
US Supreme Court: Fourth Amendment Applies to Cellphone Tracking
In a landmark Fourth Amendment decision in Carpenter v. United States, delivered on June 22, the Supreme Court addressed the intersection of privacy and law enforcement in the digital age. It held that law enforcement officials must obtain a search warrant based on probable cause in order to compel cellular service providers […]
Consumer Protection Enforcement Trends to Watch as New Leadership Takes Over FTC
With new leadership poised to take the helm at the Federal Trade Commission, now is an opportune time to review consumer protection trends and developments to watch over the coming months as the new commissioners get down to business. Who’s Trump putting in charge at the FTC? President Donald Trump’s […]