Updates on DoctoredReviews.com and Medical Justice
By Eric Goldman You may recall our April launch of DoctoredReviews.com, a website explaining why Medical Justice’s form agreement, the “Mutual Agreement to Maintain Privacy,” was a bad deal for doctors, patients and review websites. See a list of the…
Yahoo! Entitled to Immunity for Disclosing User Information in Response to Subpoena — Sams v. Yahoo!
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Sams v. Yahoo!, Inc., CV-10-5897-JF(HRL) (N.D. Cal.; May 18, 2011) Fayelynn Sams sued Yahoo!, contending that Yahoo! improperly produced information in response to a subpoena which requested information regarding Sams’s account. She brought a putative class…
No Computer Fraud and Abuse Act Violation for Access of Facebook and Personal Email by Employee — Lee v. PMSI
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Lee v. PMSI, 8:10 cv 2904 T 23TBM (M.D. Fla; May 6, 2011) I blogged last week about US v. Nosal, a Ninth Circuit case where the Ninth Circuit held that access of a computer in…
Facebook Scores Initial Win Against Privacy Plaintiffs Over Data Leakage Claims — In re Facebook Privacy Litigation
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] In re Facebook Privacy Litigation, 2011 WL 2039995 (N.D. Cal.; May 12, 2011) There are so many recent privacy class actions out there, it’s become tough to keep track of them all. One of the early…
The FTC’s Proposed Settlement With Google Over Buzz Privacy Breaches
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with additional comments from Eric] [Eric’s note: This topic festered in my blogging queue for far too long, so we are finally posting this after the FTC’s comment window closed. Nevertheless, this is such an interesting…
9th Cir: Access of Computer in Violation of Employer’s Use Policy Violates Computer Fraud and Abuse Act — US v. Nosal
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] US v. Nosal, 10-10038 (9th Cir.; Apr. 28, 2011) The Ninth Circuit reversed the district court’s dismissal of an indictment under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, holding that an employee’s access of an employer’s protected…
Flash Cookies Lawsuit Tossed for Lack of Harm–La Court v. Specific Media
By Eric Goldman La Court v. Specific Media, Inc., 8:10-cv-01256-GW-JCG (C.D. Cal. April 28, 2011) Lawsuits over cookies seem so Y2K to me. I thought we’d pretty much concluded that placing cookies wasn’t actionable a decade ago (see, e.g., In…
California’s Reader Privacy Act: A First Step in a New Direction (Guest Blog Post)
By Sonya Ziaja (with comments at the end from Eric) [Eric’s note: this guest post is from Sonya Ziaja, J.D., a California attorney and co-owner of Ziaja Consulting LLC. She writes regularly for LegalMatch’s Law Blog and Ziaja Consulting’s blog,…
A Look at the Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights Act of 2011
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] The Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights Act of 2011 Senators McCain and Kerry recently introduced the Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights Act of 2011. It will probably go through various iterations before being enacted, and its…
FTC Warns Debt Collector About Using Facebook to Contact Debtor
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] In the Matter of Gary D. Nitzkin, P.C. (FTC Letter; Mar. 10, 2011) Debt collectors have gotten into trouble over the use of social media to contact debtors. (See “Judge Orders Creditor to Stay Off Debtor’s…