Privacy Law

Mass. governor signs upskirting ban

Updated: It didn’t take long for Massachusetts lawmakers to respond to a state high court decision that found taking upskirt photos isn’t a crime in the state. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled on Wednesday that the state’s Peeping Tom law bans secret photos of partly or fully nude women,…

Mar 7, 2014 4:48 PM CST

Upskirt photos not illegal under Mass. law, state high court rules; legislature then bans it

Image from Shutterstock. Updated: Upskirt photos and videotapes of fully clothed women aren’t illegal under a Massachusetts Peeping Tom law, the state’s highest court ruled Wednesday The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court said the Peeping Tom law does not apply in the case of a man accused of secretly taping women…

Mar 6, 2014 1:04 PM CST

Prosecutors seek password for indicted judge’s personal computer

Prosecutors in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, are seeking a court order that would force an indicted former municipal judge to provide the password for his personal computer. Prosecutors say an initial search of the computer indicates that Judge Harry Jacob III viewed a brothel ad while he was apparently hearing court…

Mar 5, 2014 6:34 PM CST

School district that outed lesbian student to her mom reluctantly agrees to settle

A school district in Texas had agreed to pay $77,500 to settle a suit by a former student who says her high school softball coaches outed her as a lesbian to her mother. The Kilgore Independent School District agreed last Friday to settle the case with former student Skye Wyatt,…

Feb 26, 2014 11:50 AM CST

Plan to create a national license-plate tracking database is canceled by feds, at least for now

After news broke this week that a contractor was being sought by a Department of Homeland Security agency to create a computerized national database of information gathered by license-plate reading equipment throughout the country, DHS has canceled the plan. It said top officials at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency…

Feb 20, 2014 4:05 PM CST

Drug-using Rugrat character in ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ defamed me, lawyer says in lawsuit

A lawyer who says he was portrayed as a drug-using, toupee-wearing character in the Wolf of Wall Street had filed a lawsuit seeking $25 million for alleged defamation. Lawyer Andrew Greene says he was portrayed as the character Nicky “Rugrat” Koskoff in the film, making him look like “a criminal,…

Feb 20, 2014 1:19 PM CST

Where were you yesterday? Uncle Sam may soon know: Feds plan national license-plate tracking system

Update: The Department of Homeland Security ordered that this plan be canceled. The Department of Homeland Security is focusing on immigration law violators as it seeks a contractor to create a national database of license-plate tracking information. But there’s no reason why information about where license plates were photographed couldn’t…

Feb 19, 2014 5:56 PM CST

Cops need a warrant to track cellphone location data, a second state high court says

The top court in Massachusetts has ruled that police need a warrant to obtain cellphone location data to track a suspect for more than a brief time period. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court based its ruling on protections from unreasonable searches and seizures in the state constitution, report the Boston…

Feb 19, 2014 2:21 PM CST

Mayer Brown was reportedly spied on by NSA ally; law firm says it wasn’t subject of alleged scrutiny

Updated: An Australian ally of the National Security Agency spied on communications between a U.S. law firm and its client, the government of Indonesia, according to a top-secret document obtained by Edward Snowden. The New York Times reported on the document and identified the law firm apparently subjected to the…

Feb 18, 2014 1:07 PM CST

License-plate-reader businesses file First Amendment suit over new Utah privacy law

In an unusual First Amendment challenge to a revised state law seeking to protect individual privacy, two companies that offer license-plate readers and data services to private businesses such as automobile finance and repossession companies have sued the state of Utah. The plaintiffs, Digital Recognition Network Inc. and Vigilant Solutions…

Feb 14, 2014 9:15 PM CST

Lawyer’s work on Rand Paul’s suit over NSA surveillance goes unrecognized

The lawyer who drafted most of Rand Paul’s lawsuit against the National Security Agency didn’t get credit—or full payment—for his work, according to the lawyer’s ex-wife, who is none too happy about the omission. Paul’s suit challenging the NSA’s bulk collection of phone records was drafted by Bruce Fein, his…

Feb 13, 2014 2:07 PM CST

Is it OK to Google a client? A rule of thumb for physicians may work for lawyers, too

Twin Design / Shutterstock.com Patients don’t hesitate to search their physicians’ names on Google, to see what information they can find. But when doctors look up their patients on the Internet, some individuals feel their privacy has been violated. Although the American College of Physicians says doctors should avoid doing…

Feb 12, 2014 10:05 PM CST

Did US Cellular violate law by releasing texts in divorce case? Judge raps company, sanctions lawyer

A judge on Maine’s top court is using a lawyer’s ethics case to criticize U.S. Cellular for turning over thousands of subpoenaed text messages in a divorce case. Justice Donald Alexander said U.S. Cellular violated a federal privacy law, report the Associated Press and the Morning Sentinel. “The Stored Communications…

Feb 7, 2014 3:01 PM CST

MeetMe has inadequate privacy protections for minors, city attorney alleges in lawsuit

The MeetMe social networking site is facing a lawsuit that claims it has inadequate privacy protections, putting minors at risk of targeting by sexual predators. San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera filed suit on Monday, report the San Francisco Examiner, Bay City News Service and the Los Angeles Times. The…

Feb 4, 2014 6:00 PM CST

Chemerinsky: Is it time to go high-tech on the Fourth Amendment?

On Jan. 17, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in two cases that hopefully will force it to bring the Fourth Amendment into the 21st century. In United States v. Wurie and California v. Riley the court will consider whether the police, after arresting an individual, may look at the…

Feb 4, 2014 2:45 PM CST