Will Illinois become the sixth state to allow granny cams in nursing homes?

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is backing legislation that would allow families to place recording devices in nursing homes to monitor treatment of their loved ones. Madigan says the bill would require consent from nursing home residents being recorded as well as from their roommates, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Chicago…

Sep 9, 2014 2:03 PM CDT

Twitter must reveal user info after posted photo leads to charges against wrong man, judge says

Who framed Lemon Juice? That is the issue in a lawsuit filed by a New York man named Lemon Juice who claims a Twitter user opened an account in his name and posted a photo of a 12-year-old sexual assault victim who testified against a rabbi. Juice’s lawyer, Solomon Antar,…

Sep 5, 2014 5:45 AM CDT

Federal medical-privacy law frustrates ID theft victims

Sep 1, 2014 9:10 AM CDT

NSA surveillance policies raise questions about the viability of the attorney-client privilege

Sep 1, 2014 8:49 AM CDT

After prosecutor’s live courtroom feed is disclosed, judges consider expanding viewing areas

After disclosure of a live courtroom video feed to the prosecutor’s office in Warren County, Ohio, judges are considering expanding the program to include more remote-viewing locations. Judges are considering adding viewing areas in the attorney waiting area and the law library, the Dayton Daily News reports. Administrative Judge Donald…

Aug 28, 2014 2:01 PM CDT

Online petition urges Michael Brown law requiring cops to wear cameras; what about privacy concerns?

In less than a week’s time, more than 100,000 people have signed an online petition calling for a “Mike Brown law” that would require state and local police to wear cameras. The potential law is named for Michael Brown, the unarmed man fatally shot by a police officer in Ferguson,…

Aug 21, 2014 12:11 PM CDT

TV station posted interrogation video with Social Security number, says lawyer who plans lawsuit

The South Carolina woman accused of leaving her 9-year-old daughter in a park while she worked at McDonald’s is planning a lawsuit against a TV station that posted her interrogation video without editing out her Social Security number, according to her lawyer. Debra Harrell was charged on July 1 with…

Aug 20, 2014 3:18 PM CDT

Arrest records linger in FBI database and websites; acquitted law student sees consequences

Getting arrested doesn’t necessarily result in conviction or even prosecution. But arrest records in an FBI master criminal database aren’t always updated with the disposition, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports. And individuals trying to find proof of dropped charges can hit roadblocks when the cases are old and…

Aug 19, 2014 7:34 PM CDT

Federal suit claims family members were banned from mom’s nursing home over social media posts

The children of a patient in a nursing home in Sugar Land, Texas, have sued the facility, alleging that they can’t visit their mother there because they have been banned over their social media posts. The plaintiffs say Silverado Senior Living had no valid reason for the ban, which was…

Aug 19, 2014 4:40 PM CDT

Judge says he had no obligation to disclose prosecutor’s live feed of court hearings

A judge in Warren County, Ohio, is defending his decision to allow a live camera and audio feed of hearings and trials to be piped into the prosecutor’s office. Judge James Flannery said judges had no obligation to tell lawyers about prosecutor David Fornshell’s cameras; instead it was up to…

Aug 15, 2014 1:07 PM CDT

Name of officer in Ferguson shooting is released; ACLU sues for incident reports

Updated: Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson has identified the officer who shot 18-year-old Michael Brown last Saturday, sparking protests and clashes with police for five nights. Jackson identified the officer as Darren Wilson during a news conference on Friday, the New York Times reports. Wilson has been an officer with…

Aug 15, 2014 11:59 AM CDT

Judge Judy settles suit over ads with her likeness

Judge Judy has settled her suit that contended a Connecticut personal injury lawyer used her image without her authorization. Judy Sheindlin said in a statement that she and Hartford lawyer John Haymond “reached an amicable resolution of their claims against each other,” according to the Connecticut Law Tribune and TMZ.…

Aug 12, 2014 3:12 PM CDT

Never mind: US says it doesn’t need to redact transcript of public court hearing after all

A challenge to “dragnet surveillance” by the National Security Agency became a battle over transparency after the United States secretly sought an advance look at a transcript of a public hearing so it could remove any classified material. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which filed the suit on behalf of AT&T…

Aug 7, 2014 10:45 AM CDT

Some 17,000 seek to join law student’s Facebook class action in Austria

A class action filed against Facebook by an Austrian law student, contending that its data-collection practices violate European law, is gathering steam. Some 17,000 users of the social media site have signed up to join in the case following a call to action by 26-year-old Max Schrems last week, Reuters…

Aug 5, 2014 10:25 PM CDT

Financier backs Austrian law student’s class action against Facebook; it seeks damages under US law

Backed by an unidentified financier, a 26-year-old Austrian law student has filed a class-action lawsuit against Facebook in his privacy-friendly home country. The Vienna commercial court case filed by Max Schrems claims privacy violations under European Union law, pointing to Facebook’s sharing of user data with third parties through the…

Aug 4, 2014 7:15 PM CDT