Privacy Law

French regulators reject Google’s attempts to limit the scope of European privacy ruling

French regulators have dealt a blow to Google’s hopes of limiting the scope of the “right to be forgotten.” The New York Times reported on Monday that French data protection agency Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertes (CNIL) has handed down an expansive ruling bolstering a privacy decision issued…

Sep 21, 2015 3:20 PM CDT

Justice officials threatened mass resignation over retroactive approval of NSA program

Justice Department officials threatened mass resignation after President George W. Bush tried to retroactively approve bulk collection of purely domestic metadata for Americans’ phone calls and emails, according to papers disclosed in a lawsuit. The newly declassified information sheds new light on the hospital room showdown in which Attorney General…

Sep 21, 2015 11:16 AM CDT

Gay lawyer denied coverage because he takes HIV-blocking drug files bias complaint against insurer

A gay Boston lawyer is planning to sue his insurer for allegedly denying him long-term care coverage because he takes the HIV-blocking drug Truvada. The 61-year-old lawyer, who filed a complaint Wednesday with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination—a precursor to filing a lawsuit—claims that Mutual of Omaha discriminated against him…

Sep 16, 2015 2:40 PM CDT

Public defender sues over alleged law enforcement scrutiny of her driving records

Law enforcement in Broward County, Florida, violated a federal statute by accessing her driving records without good reason, an assistant public defender says in a lawsuit. Caroline McCrae alleges in the federal suit that Fort Lauderdale police and a Broward County sheriff’s deputy violated the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act on…

Sep 16, 2015 5:30 AM CDT

Class action suit seeks damages from Twitter over claimed direct-message privacy violations

Twitter Inc. is violating federal and state privacy statutes by intercepting messages that it bills as “private” and inserting new (and shortened) URLs for hyperlinks, a federal lawsuit says. Filed Monday in San Francisco, it seeks class action status concerning a massive group of individuals who have sent or received…

Sep 15, 2015 2:25 PM CDT

Tech companies fight Justice Department over access to data

Apple, Google and Microsoft want to reassure customers that they are fighting the U.S. government’s access to data, resulting in conflicts with the U.S. Justice Department. The New York Times has a report that says the conflicts “reflect heightened corporate resistance, in the post-Edward J. Snowden era.” In one case,…

Sep 9, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

Twitter user who created parody mayoral account settles suit over police raid of his home

An Illinois man who created a parody Twitter account in the name of Peoria’s mayor has settled a First Amendment lawsuit against the city filed after a police raid on his home. Plaintiff Jon Daniel will receive $125,000 in damages and attorney fees, report the Chicago Tribune, the Peoria Journal…

Sep 3, 2015 7:54 AM CDT

Former lawyer’s alleged confession to reporter is secretly taped by FBI

An FBI affidavit says the government recorded a disbarred lawyer’s confession to a television news reporter who visited him in jail. Former lawyer Matthew Muller, a Harvard law grad, is accused of a June home invasion in Dublin, California, and a March kidnapping in nearby Vallejo in a case once…

Sep 3, 2015 6:15 AM CDT

New courthouse audio at security checkpoint caught attorneys by surprise

For nearly two weeks last month, new audio recorders installed at a Knoxville, Tennessee, courthouse and a nearby city county building were capturing conversations near the entrance. The recordings were lega,l and entrance stickers warned visitors that their conversations might be recorded, Knox County officials said. Nonetheless, attorneys and others…

Sep 2, 2015 4:40 PM CDT

Former FBI lawyer says his home computer was accessed by hacker from China

A former deputy general counsel in the FBI says a hacker from China apparently accessed his computer. The lawyer, Marion “Spike” Bowman, is a lecturer on national security law at George Washington University and chairs the board of directors for the Association of Former Intelligence Officers. Before joining the FBI,…

Sep 2, 2015 6:15 AM CDT

Injunction against NSA phone records program is vacated by DC Circuit

A federal appeals court on Friday vacated a preliminary injunction that would have stopped the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of phone metadata, while allowing the plaintiff to try to prove standing on remand. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled in a suit by…

Aug 31, 2015 9:07 AM CDT

ABA urges 11th Circuit to reconsider ban on gun-safety counseling by physicians

The American Bar Association is participating in an effort to win en banc review of a federal appeals court decision last month. It upheld a Florida law restricting physicians from asking patients about firearms or putting such information in medical records, unless it is relevant to that individual’s medicare care.…

Aug 28, 2015 3:45 PM CDT

Porn emails cited by Pennsylvania AG are unsealed; she says senders ‘manufactured’ case against her

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has unsealed 398 pages of emails containing pornographic, racist and sexist materials that were sent and received by state employees on office computers, including lawyers and agents with the Attorney General’s office. Newly unsealed documents also include a petition filed by Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane…

Aug 27, 2015 10:20 AM CDT

North Dakota legalizes weaponized drones for police use

A new law allows North Dakota police officers to use drones outfitted with “less than lethal” weapons. That means police can use drones equipped with everything from Tasers to tear gas, the Daily Beast reports. The law was enacted after the drone bill underwent significant changes. The intent of the…

Aug 27, 2015 8:17 AM CDT

Lawyer is suspended for his response to Internet criticism

A lawyer accused of disclosing confidential information from his clients in response to their Internet criticism has been suspended for 18 months. Lawyer James Underhill will have to show rehabilitation before returning to law practice, according to the order by Colorado’s presiding disciplinary judge. The Legal Profession Blog notes the…

Aug 26, 2015 9:45 AM CDT