“Economics of Privacy” Conference Recap

By Eric Goldman Earlier this month, I attended an event at University of Colorado Boulder called “The Economics of Privacy,” sponsored by the Silicon Flatirons center. A couple photos from the event: 1, 2. As usual, these notes reflect my…

Employee’s Claims Against Employer for Unauthorized Use of Social Media Accounts Move Forward–Maremont v. SF Design Group

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Maremont v. Susan Fredman Design Group, Ltd., et al., 10 C 7811 (N.D. Ill.; Dec. 7, 2011) I blogged about a case earlier this year where a plaintiff sued her former employer for improperly accessing the…

The Cookie Crumbles for Amazon Privacy Plaintiffs – Del Vecchio v. Amazon

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Del Vecchio v. Amazon, C11-366-RSL (W.D. Wash.; Dec. 1, 2011) Plaintiffs sued Amazon, alleging that Amazon’s use of “flash” cookies and certain browser “tokens” was misleading. In a putative class action, Del Vecchio asserted claims against…

Spiritual Group’s Attempt to Unmask Online Critics Goes South–Art of Living Foundation v. Does

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Art of Living Foundation v. Does, 10-cv-05022-LHK (N.D. Ca.; Nov. 9, 2011) Art of Living Foundation is an organization based in India that is dedicated to teaching the spiritual lessons of “His Holiness Ravi Shankar.” Defendants…

Pennsylvania Court Orders Personal Injury Plaintiff to Turn Over Facebook Password to Defendant — Largent v. Reed

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Largent v. Reed, 2009-1823 (Pa. Ct. of Common Pleas; Nov. 8, 2011) Keith and Jessica Largent were involved in an accident in 2007. They sued Jessica Rosko and Sagrario Pena alleging negligence and loss of consortium….

Facebook Settles With the FTC — In re Facebook, Inc.

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani, with comments from Eric] In re Facebook, Inc. (Nov. 29, 2011) (Settlement & Proposed Consent Decree [pdf]) (Mark Zuckerberg’s blog post) The FTC announced its long-rumored settlement with Facebook. The key terms: • Facebook is barred…

Redbox Can be Liable Under the Video Privacy Protection Act for Failure to Purge Video Rental Records — Sterk v. Redbox

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Sterk v. Redbox, 11 c 1729 (N.D. Ill. Aug 19, 2011) Redbox is a company which rents DVDs to customers from automated, self-service kiosks, typically charging $1 per rental. The customer is required to return the…

App Developer RockYou Settles Privacy Lawsuit–Claridge v. RockYou

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with comments from Eric] Claridge v. RockYou, 09-CV-6032-PJH (N.D. Cal.; Nov. 14, 2011) (settlement pending court approval) Eric and I previously blogged about the opinion in Claridge v. RockYou, where the court tentatively recognized the theory…

LinkedIn Beats Referrer URL Privacy Class Action on Article III Standing Grounds–Low v. LinkedIn

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with comments from Eric] Low v. LinkedIn, 2011 WL 5509848 (N.D. Ca.; Nov. 11, 2011) Low brought a putative class action against LinkedIn, complaining about the fact that LinkedIn “allows transmission of users’ personally identifiable browsing…

Minnesota Appeals Court Says Tracking Statute Excludes Use of GPS to Track Jointly Owned Vehicle — State v. Hormann

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] State v. Hormann, A10-18722 (Minn. Ct. App. October 19, 2011) Hormann was charged with installing a tracking device on his then-wife’s car, in violation of a Minnesota statute prohibiting the use of, among other things, tracking…