Afternoon Briefs: Perkins Coie sued over Steele dossier; Facebook agrees to $550M privacy settlement
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Ex-Trump aide sues Perkins Coie, DNC over Steele dossier
Carter Page, a former campaign adviser for President Donald Trump, has filed a defamation lawsuit against Perkins Coie and the Democratic National Committee over the so-called Steele dossier alleging links between Russia and the Trump campaign. The unverified dossier, which later became public, was compiled for Democrats as part of opposition research. Information from the dossier’s author was cited in applications to wiretap Page. (Fox News, press release)
Facebook agrees to $550M settlement over facial recognition feature
Facebook has agreed to pay $550 million to settle claims that it violated an Illinois privacy law by collecting facial recognition information from photos to suggest friends who should be tagged in newly posted pictures. Illinois has the most comprehensive biometric privacy law in the nation. (The Chicago Tribune, the New York Times)
Untested rape kit exonerates man who served 25 years in prison
After serving 25 years in prison, Rafael Ruiz has been cleared of the charges that put him there. Ruiz has always maintained that he didn’t participate in the gang rape for which he was convicted. His story proved true when an untested rape kit was finally examined because of the efforts of the Innocence Project and the conviction integrity program of the Manhattan district attorney’s office. Ruiz was released from prison a decade ago, but he still celebrated the court win. (The New York Times, the Washington Post)
