Cybersecurity & Privacy

  • September 04, 2024

    X Stops Training Grok On EU Users' Posts To End Irish Action

    X Corp., the former Twitter, has agreed to permanently halt its efforts to train its chatbot Grok on personal data lifted from public posts made by its European Union users in order to resolve an urgent proceeding pressed by Ireland's data protection authority, the regulator announced Wednesday.

  • September 04, 2024

    Nonsolicits Don't Need Geographic Terms, Ga. Justices Say

    The Supreme Court of Georgia said on Wednesday that restrictive covenants don't need to contain an explicit territorial component for them to be deemed reasonable under state law, reviving a marketing organization's attempt to enforce a nonsolicitation provision in its contracts with independent agents.

  • September 04, 2024

    Dynapass Drops Patent Suit Against Bank Of America

    A litigation outfit has agreed to drop its patent infringement allegations against Bank of America, ending a lawsuit in the Eastern District of Texas over the programming behind user-authentication software.

  • September 04, 2024

    Colgate-Palmolive Reaches Deal In 401(k) Cyber Theft Suit

    A New York federal court on Wednesday dismissed a retired Colgate-Palmolive marketing executive's suit alleging her employer and a benefits administrator breached federal benefits law by allowing a thief to drain more than $750,000 from her account online, after parties reached a tentative settlement.

  • September 04, 2024

    Amazon Disclosures Doom Prime Viewers' Deception Claims

    A Washington federal judge on Tuesday threw out Amazon Prime subscribers' claims that the company illegally disclosed their personal viewing habits, axing some of their state law consumer protection allegations for good while providing an avenue for them to amend their federal claims.

  • September 04, 2024

    9th Circ. Blocks Calif.'s Social Media Content Disclosure Law

    The Ninth Circuit ruled Wednesday that a trial judge wrongly denied X Corp.'s bid to block parts of a new California law that requires social media giants to disclose their content-moderation policies, finding that provisions requiring the companies to disclose how and whether they define extreme content are likely unconstitutional.

  • September 04, 2024

    NC Biz Court Bulletin: Blackbeard IP Fight, Firm Data Breach

    As summer winds down, the North Carolina Business Court tackled usage rights pertaining to footage and artifacts from Blackbeard's shipwreck while grappling with uncovering the details of a cyberattack that exposed the data of Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP. In case you missed those and others, here are the highlights.

  • September 04, 2024

    Samsung Says It Doesn't Access Face-App Scans

    Samsung told an Illinois federal judge on Wednesday it is time to dismiss for good a proposed class action alleging the company unlawfully collects biometric data from smartphone and tablet users, arguing facial-recognition technology data is locally stored and not accessible to, or stored by, the company.

  • September 04, 2024

    Ga. Justices Affirm Rejection Of Class In Patient Privacy Suit

    The Georgia Supreme Court said Wednesday that a Fulton County trial court acted within its discretion when it denied class certification for a suit over a release of patient records from a private mental health hospital, overturning a Georgia Court of Appeals ruling.

  • September 04, 2024

    AI Musician Duped Streaming Giants To Steal $10M, Feds Say

    A North Carolina man streamed thousands of artificial intelligence-generated songs to dupe streaming giants like Spotify and YouTube and generate $10 million in an elaborate scam, federal prosecutors in Manhattan charged Wednesday in a first-of-its-kind case.

  • September 03, 2024

    3rd Circ. Preview: Starbucks Firing, Liquor Law In September

    Two National Labor Relations Board cases grace the Third Circuit's September session, when panels will probe the agency's suits against Starbucks Corp. for firing Philadelphia workers attempting to unionize and a plastic company accused of firing a safety whistleblower.

  • September 03, 2024

    SEC Fines 6 Credit Rating Firms $49M Over Texting Records

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Tuesday that six nationally recognized statistical rating organizations agreed to pay a combined $49 million for failing to preserve electronic communications, the latest wave of settlements in an ongoing crackdown that has yielded billions in fines.

  • September 03, 2024

    No BIPA Exception For OTC Glasses, Ill. Judges Say

    An Illinois appellate court has held that someone trying on nonprescription sunglasses with an online try-on tool isn't considered a patient in a healthcare setting, dooming a glasses retailer's attempt to end the biometric privacy lawsuit it faces.

  • September 03, 2024

    FCC Urged To Trim Rule Proposal For Blocking Spam Texts

    Wireless carriers want the Federal Communications Commission to scale back a proposed rule for blocking spam texts to ensure legitimate messages can still go through despite tighter standards.

  • September 03, 2024

    FCC Bans Kaspersky Software In Authorized Equipment

    The Federal Communications Commission is banning the use of certain Russian-made cybersecurity and antivirus software from Kaspersky Labs in agency-authorized telecommunications equipment, months after the U.S. Department of Commerce said the software could pose national security risks.

  • September 03, 2024

    Bain One-Ups KKR's $4B-Plus Bid In Battle For Fuji Soft

    Private equity firm Bain Capital said Tuesday that it made a nonbinding offer to take Fuji Soft private, as Bain pushed the Japanese software developer to open up formal discussions for the $4 billion-plus tender offer so it has a chance to beat out rival bidder KKR.

  • September 03, 2024

    Founder Of Gibson Dunn Privacy Practice Joins McDermott

    McDermott Will & Emery on Tuesday announced the firm added litigator Alexander Southwell, a former federal prosecutor who founded and co-led the privacy, cybersecurity and data innovation practice at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP.

  • September 03, 2024

    Former Aide To NY Gov. Indicted On Foreign Agent Charges

    A former aide to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo was arrested Tuesday on allegations of secretly acting as an agent of China's government in a yearslong political conspiracy to promote the interests of the Chinese Communist Party and reap millions of dollars.

  • August 30, 2024

    Pa. County's Voting Machine Inspections Cost It $1M In Fees

    A Pennsylvania county whose commissioners violated a court order by allowing outside inspectors to access its voting machines should pay Dominion Voting Systems and the Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth more than $1 million in legal fees as part of the state supreme court's sanctions, an appellate judge recommended Friday.

  • August 30, 2024

    9th Circ. Won't Double Software Co.'s $13.5M Trade Secret Win

    The Ninth Circuit on Friday affirmed a lower court's denial of a request by software company Proofpoint Inc. for exemplary damages that could have doubled its $13.5 million trade secret theft verdict, ruling that any error the district court made in denying the damages is harmless.

  • August 30, 2024

    CrowdStrike VP Called To House Hearing On Global IT Outage

    A U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee will dig into the faulty CrowdStrike software update that caused a massive global tech outage, revealing plans Friday for a September hearing that will feature testimony from a senior executive at the cybersecurity firm. 

  • August 30, 2024

    UK Drops Antitrust Probe Into School Software Co.

    A United Kingdom school software company is no longer facing antitrust scrutiny over alleged litigation threats against schools looking to switch providers, but the firm continues to suggest that it may take action against the "misuse of its intellectual property" that it says complaints to authorities were meant to hide.

  • August 30, 2024

    Wheeling & Appealing: The Latest Must-Know Appellate Action

    Appeals courts have awakened from summertime slumber and crammed their early autumn calendars with arguments of national significance, which Law360 previews in this edition of Wheeling & Appealing. We're also recapping August's top appellate decisions, exploring new polling about U.S. Supreme Court opinions and testing your knowledge of Fifth Circuit history.

  • August 30, 2024

    New York Magazine Reader Drops Suit Over Data Disclosures

    A subscriber to New York magazine has voluntarily dropped a potential class action accusing the periodical's publisher of violating a Michigan consumer privacy law by wrongfully disclosing readers' data to third parties.

  • August 30, 2024

    Period Tracker App Users Seek Class Cert. In Data-Selling Suit

    Users of the menstrual cycle tracking app Flo Health Inc. are seeking class certification in their suit against Flo, Google and Meta, telling a California federal judge the proposed class would include millions of users whose personal health information was sold to the ad giants without consent.

Expert Analysis

  • Tips For Balanced Board Oversight After A Cyberincident

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's cybersecurity disclosure rules, as well as recent regulatory enforcement actions bringing board governance under scrutiny, continue to push boards toward active engagement in relation to their cyber-oversight role, despite it being unclear what a board's level of involvement should be, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • What Cos. Are Reporting Under New SEC Cybersecurity Rule

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    Four months after its effective date, 14 companies have made disclosures under the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's mandatory cybersecurity incident reporting rule, and some early trends are emerging, including a possible rush to file, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Data Protection Steps To Consider After Biden Privacy Order

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    A recent White House executive order casts a spotlight on the criticality of securing sensitive content communications, presenting challenges and necessitating a recalibration of practices, especially for lawyers, says Camilo Artiga-Purcell at Kiteworks.

  • The Future Of BIPA Insurance Litigation After Visual Pak

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    A recent Illinois appellate court decision, National Fire Insurance v. Visual Pak, may have altered the future of insurance litigation under the state's Biometric Information Privacy Act by diametrically opposing a prominent Seventh Circuit ruling that found insurance coverage for violations of the act, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • Consumer Privacy Takeaways From FTC Extraterritorial Action

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    With what appears to be its first privacy-related consent agreement with a non-U.S. business, the Federal Trade Commission establishes that its reach is extraterritorial and that consumer internet browsing data is sensitive data, and there are lessons for any multinational business that handles consumer information, say Olivia Greer and Alexis Bello at Weil.

  • Series

    Whitewater Kayaking Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Whether it's seeing clients and their issues from a new perspective, or staying nimble in a moment of intense challenge, the lessons learned from whitewater kayaking transcend the rapids of a river and prepare attorneys for the courtroom and beyond, says Matthew Kent at Alston & Bird.

  • Navigating Kentucky's New Consumer Privacy Law

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    On April 4, Kentucky passed a new law that imposes obligations on affected businesses relating to the collection, use and sale of personal data — and those operating within the state must prepare for a new regulatory landscape governing the handling of consumer data, say Risa Boerner and Martha Vázquez at Fisher Phillips.

  • This Earth Day, Consider How Your Firm Can Go Greener

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    As Earth Day approaches, law firms and attorneys should consider adopting more sustainable practices to reduce their carbon footprint — from minimizing single-use plastics to purchasing carbon offsets for air travel — which ultimately can also reduce costs for clients, say M’Lynn Phillips and Lisa Walters at IMS Legal Strategies.

  • New Proposal Signals Sharper Enforcement Focus At CFIUS

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    Last week's proposed rule aimed at broadening the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States' enforcement authority over foreign investments and increasing penalties for violations signals that CFIUS intends to continue expanding its aggressive monitoring of national security issues, say attorneys at Kirkland.

  • 4 Ways AI Tools Can Improve Traditional Merger Analyses

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    Government officials at the American Bar Association's annual antitrust spring meeting last week reinforced the view that competition cases will increasingly rely on sophisticated data analysis, so companies will likewise need to use Big Tech quantitative techniques to improve traditional merger analyses, say Patrick Bajari, Gianmarco Calanchi and Tega Akati-Udi at Keystone.

  • What FinCEN Proposed Customer ID Number Change Means

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    The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's recent request for comment on changing a requirement for banks to collect full Social Security numbers at account sign-up represents an important opportunity for banks to express their preferability, as communicating sensitive information online may carry fraud or cybersecurity risks, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • How Companies Can Use Big Data As A Strategic Asset

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    Artificial intelligence technology powered by big data has the potential to create radical improvements to business operations, but if big data is improperly protected or monetized, this same information can give competitors similar advantages, or at the very least undermine a company's edge, say Gary Weinstein and Hudson Peters at Faegre Drinker.

  • Cos. Should Mind Website Tech As CIPA Suits Keep Piling Up

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    Businesses should continue evaluating their use of website technologies and other data-gathering software and review the disclosures in their privacy policies, amid an increase so far in 2024 of class actions alleging violations of the California Invasion of Privacy Act's pen register and trap-and-trace provisions, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Questions Persist After Ruling Skirts $925M TCPA Award Issue

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    After an Oregon federal court's recent Wakefield v. ViSalus ruling that the doctrine of constitutional avoidance precluded it from deciding whether a $925 million Telephone Consumer Protection Act damages award was constitutionally sound, further guidance is needed on when statutory damages violate due process, says Michael Klotz at O'Melveny.

  • An NYDFS-Regulated Bank's Guide To Proper Internal Audits

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    As certification deadlines for compliance with the New York State Department of Financial Services’ transaction monitoring and cybersecurity regulations loom, lawyers should remember that the NYDFS offers no leeway for best efforts — and should ensure robust auditing and recordkeeping processes for clients, say attorneys at Arnall Golden.

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