More Data Breach Lawsuits Fail In Court–Michaels Stores and SuperValu
Courts recently dismissed more data breach lawsuits for failure to allege harm. Michael Stores: Michaels confirmed that consumer account information had been compromised and acknowledged that approximately 2.6 million cards could have been affected between 2013 and 2014. It offered…
2H 2015 Quick Links, Part 6 (Social Media)
* Burge ex rel. Burge v. Colton School Dist. 53, 2015 WL 1757161 (D. Or. April 17, 2015). 8th grader gets a C in a class and gets grounded. He vents about the teacher on Facebook: Braeden initially posted that…
Shutterfly Can’t Shake Face-Scanning Privacy Lawsuit
A putative class action accuses Shutterfly of violating the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act. The plaintiff, who is not a Shutterfly user, alleges that, when an identified Shuttterfly user uploaded pictures of plaintiff, Shutterfly created a “face scan” using the…
2H 2015 Quick Links, Part 3 (Trespass To Chattels, Privacy/Security)
Trespass to Chattels * Crapps v. State, 2015 WL 8114247 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. Dec. 8, 2015). This is a revenge porn case, and the defendant was convicted of violating an anti-stalking protection order. However, in this ruling, the court…
Employee Kvetching About Job On Facebook Still Entitled To Unemployment Benefits
Martinez worked at Yours Truly Consignment Shoppe. One of her co-workers was fired (along with another person) and posted the news on Facebook, adding how she hated working at Yours Truly for some time now. Martinez “liked” this post and…
Third Circuit Revives a Sliver of Plaintiff’s Cookie-Blocking Circumvention Claims Against Google
This is a lawsuit alleging that Google and others circumvented cookie-blocking settings of popular browsers. Our blog post on the district court ruling here: “Google Wins Cookie Privacy Lawsuit”. Plaintiffs asserted federal and state claims. The court affirms dismissal of…
Woman That Rapper 2 Chainz Called a “THOT” In Viral Video Loses Lawsuit–Chisholm v. Epps
Tauheed Epps is a rapper known as “2 Chainz”. While backstage at one of his concerts, he allegedly filmed plaintiff while walking around backstage with his entourage, and repeatedly called her a “THOT” (which stands for “That Hoe Over There”)….
Google Play Defeats Lawsuit Over Unauthorized Bank Charges–Harvey v. Google
In March 2013, Susan Harvey bought a game via Google Play, which required her to electronically link her bank account. She alleges that hundreds of unauthorized charges hit her bank account, totaling thousands of dollars. Google allegedly offered to make…
Hackers Could Take Control Of Your Car, But You Can’t Sue Carmakers For That Risk (Forbes Cross-Post)
Cars contain millions of lines of software code, which makes them tempting targets for hackers. Further, with the increased automation of cars, we face growing risks that malicious hackers will remotely take control of cars and cause significant personal or…
Disney Not Liable For Disclosing Device IDs And Viewing Habits
This is another VPPA case grappling with the question of how the statute defines “personally identifiable information.” A recent key VPPA ruling addressed the issue of whether someone who downloads an app is a “subscriber” (answer: no), but the PII…