Privacy Law

You can sue someone who broke into your email, but you’d better find proof fast

In August 2011, New York City teacher Chantay Sewell tried to log in to her AOL account and couldn't. Shortly afterward, a message making defamatory claims about her sex life went out from her email address. Seven months later, the same thing happened with her Facebook account.

Jan 1, 2016 3:30 AM CST

Online property information aids deed thieves

Online property information is making it easier for swindlers to forge deeds so they can sell vacant homes to unsuspecting buyers. The problem is particularly bad in New York City, where 120 cases are being investigated, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports. The city posts online copies of deeds,…

Dec 9, 2015 12:16 PM CST

Videos from police probe of bikini baristas are subject to open records law, judge rules

Police in Everett, Washington, have to release copies of surveillance videos of bikini baristas who exposed themselves and performed sexual acts, but the records could be released in a screen-shot format, a Snohomish County judge has ruled. Judge George Appel ruled on Monday that open records law requires the city…

Dec 9, 2015 11:31 AM CST

Moms sue Mattel, saying ‘Hello Barbie’ doll violates privacy

The maker of a talking “Hello Barbie” doll says the toy complies with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. To satisfy COPPA requirements, Hello Barbie users agree to create a ToyTalk account before the doll’s conversation feature is activated and its owner’s remarks are transmitted, via a built-in wifi microphone,…

Dec 9, 2015 11:25 AM CST

Aide to Pennsylvania AG Kathleen Kane is convicted for email snooping in violation of court order

An aide to Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane was convicted of criminal contempt on Tuesday for violating a protective order by reading office emails to learn about a grand jury investigation of Kane. The aide, Patrick Reese, was convicted by a Montgomery County judge, report the Legal Intelligencer (sub. req.),…

Dec 9, 2015 10:29 AM CST

Judge orders Florida newspaper to unpublish information on its website

Updated: A judge has ordered a Florida newspaper to unpublish material posted on its website. In an unusual ruling (PDF), Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Jack Schramm Cox ordered the Palm Beach Post to remove from its website transcripts of taped telephone recordings in which a jailhouse informant bragged about…

Dec 7, 2015 6:31 AM CST

Former Internet provider can finally reveal what the FBI wanted to know in 2004, judge rules

After 11 years of litigation, the onetime owner of an Internet company can finally reveal what kind of information the FBI had sought about one of his customers. A federal judge has lifted a gag order that had prevented Nicholas Merrill from revealing the contents of the national security letter…

Dec 1, 2015 12:52 PM CST

NSA halts bulk collection of phone records, but security and surveillance concerns remain

The National Security Agency ceased collecting bulk data for America’s phone records at midnight Saturday, as required by law. But the door remains open for investigators to access such information when targeting specific groups or individuals, Reuters reports. The victory for privacy activists and tech companies “struck a reasonable compromise…

Nov 30, 2015 2:15 PM CST

Belgium authorities ask for Internet silence on police ops; Twitterverse responds with cat memes

Concerned that social media messages could alert suspects in Brussels, where police have been conducting sweeps for possible terrorists linked to recent Paris attacks, authorities in Belgium asked the country’s citizens and news media to refrain from tweets and Internet posts about raids. Over the weekend, defense minister Steven Vandeput…

Nov 23, 2015 4:05 PM CST

Accidental release of millions of Georgia voters’ private info leads to suit against state

The Georgia Secretary of State’s office accidentally sent protected personal information for its states’ registered voters on computer disks to third parties last month, along with the public voter-registration records for which those organizations had paid. A Fulton County lawsuit filed Tuesday by two women says the personal information for…

Nov 19, 2015 3:20 PM CST

Lawsuits say Vizio smart TV tracking violates federal video-rental statute

Unbeknownst to many consumers who purchase Vizio smart televisions, the TVs are collecting data on their household viewing habits unless buyers actively opt out. Since the software also collects information about other devices linked into the home’s computer system, it may not be difficult for third parties to which Vizio…

Nov 18, 2015 11:15 AM CST

‘Hand-wringing’ over digital surveillance is obstacle in terrorism fight, CIA director says

CIA director John Brennan said on Monday that public “hand-wringing” and leaks involving digital surveillance have made it harder to identify “murderous sociopaths” of ISIS. Speaking at conference in Washington, D.C., on Monday, Brennan said he hoped the Paris terrorist attacks would be a “wake-up call.” The Washington Post and…

Nov 17, 2015 7:20 AM CST

SCOTUS rejects FOIA case involving Planned Parenthood manual; two justices dissent

The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to consider whether an exception to the Freedom of Information Act shields from disclosure Planned Parenthood’s Manual of Medical Standards and Guidelines. Justice Clarence Thomas dissented from the cert denial on Monday in an opinion (PDF) joined by Justice Antonin Scalia. New Hampshire Right…

Nov 16, 2015 9:27 AM CST

Oregon digitally surveilled Black Lives Matter supporters; state AG is ‘shocked and appalled’

Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum says she was “shocked and appalled” to learn that a state Department of Justice investigator conducted digital surveillance of Black Lives Matter supporters as part of threat-assessment work. One of the targets was the Oregon Department of Justice’s director of civil rights, Erious Johnson, report…

Nov 12, 2015 10:42 AM CST

DC Circuit stays judge’s decision blocking NSA collection of law firm’s phone records

A federal appeals court has temporarily stayed a federal judge’s order barring the National Security Agency from collecting phone data related to a California lawyer and his law firm. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit acted on Tuesday after government lawyers asserted it would take weeks to…

Nov 11, 2015 11:27 AM CST