New Essay: The Irony of Privacy Class Action Lawsuits
By Eric Goldman I’ve posted a new essay to SSRN titled The Irony of Privacy Class Action Lawsuits. It should be published later this year in the Journal of Telecommunications and High Technology Law at University of Colorado. The essay…
Court Orders Disclosure of Psychic Chat Records in Retaliation Case – Glazer v. Fireman’s Fund
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Glazer v. Fireman’s Fund Ins. Co., 11 Civ. 4374 (PGG) (FM) (S.D.N.Y.; Apr. 4, 2012). The complaint. Glazer (her LinkedIn page) sued Fireman’s Fund Insurance, alleging that Fireman’s Fund retaliated against her because she complained about…
Actress Suing IMDB Can Assert Claim Based on Privacy Policy – Hoang v. Amazon.com, Inc.
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Hoang v. Amazon.com, Inc. & IMDB.com, Inc., C11-1709MJP (W.D. Wash.; Mar. 30, 2012) Hoang sued IMDB, alleging that IMDB took information she provided when she paid for her subscription and used this information to derive her…
Data Security Breach Settlement Class of 130M Individuals Has 11 Claimants (at a Cost of $160k Per)–In re Heartland Payment Systems
By Eric Goldman In re Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. Customer Data Security Breach Litigation, 2012 WL 948365 (S.D. Tex. March 20, 2012). The settlement website. [Note: I know that many big-scale class action lawsuits have similarly mockable numbers. But I…
Lawsuit Against Google for Putting Search Queries in Referral URLs Moves Forward – Gaos v. Google
By Venkat Balasubramani with comments from Eric Gaos v. Google, 5:10-CV 4809 (N.D. Cal.; Mar. 29, 2012) Gaos sued Google based on the theory that: (1) Google allows website owners (and third parties) to see what search terms a user…
Jan.-Feb. 2012 Quick Links, Part 6 (Privacy and more)
By Eric Goldman Privacy It was a really busy two months for privacy, and I’m sorry I didn’t get to grok a number of these developments in more detail! * State AGs are unhappy with Google’s privacy integration of its…
Facebook and Zynga Privacy Litigation Dismissed With Prejudice [Catch up Post]
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] In re Facebook Privacy Litigation, 10-02389 (N.D. Cal.; Nov. 22, 2011) In re Zynga Privacy Litigation, 10-04680 (N.D. Cal.; Nov. 22, 2011) These decisions are several months old, but they remain worth mentioning despite the fact…
Healthcare Data Breach Victims’ Lawsuit Tossed When They Can’t Show Harm–Paul v. Providence
By Eric Goldman Paul v. Providence Health Systems–Oregon, SC S059131 (Ore. Sup. Ct. Feb. 24, 2012) A Providence employee left disks/tapes containing records for 365,000 patients in his/her car, and they were stolen. The opinion implicitly assumes that the data…