First Amendment doesn’t protect video game maker for using athlete avatar, 9th Circuit says

A federal appeals court is allowing a former college athlete to pursue a right-of-publicity lawsuit against a video game maker that used an avatar with his jersey number and looks. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the company, Electronic Arts Inc., was not protected by…

Aug 1, 2013 1:17 PM CDT

No warrant is needed for records showing general location of prior cellphone calls, 5th Circuit says

A federal appeals court has ruled that the federal government doesn’t need a warrant to obtain historical data showing the general location of cellphone calls. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the constitutionality of a provision of the Stored Communications Act that allows the government to…

Aug 1, 2013 11:35 AM CDT

Witness harassment has gone digital, and the justice system is playing catch-up

Aug 1, 2013 9:40 AM CDT

SCOTUS should decide if cops need warrant to search cellphones at arrest, two appeals judges say

Two federal appeals judges are explaining why they voted to deny an en banc rehearing of a decision requiring police to get a warrant before searching cellphones incident to arrest. The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the rehearing in an order (PDF) released Monday, the Wall Street…

Jul 31, 2013 11:25 AM CDT

Walgreens must pay customer $1.44M after pharmacist shared her prescription records

An Indiana jury awarded $1.44 million Friday to a customer whose prescription records were provided by a Walgreen’s pharmacist to the customer’s ex-boyfriend. The pharmacist was married to the plaintiff’s ex-boyfriend at the time she looked up Abigail Hinchy’s prescription records and shared them with Davion Peterson, pharmacist Audra Peterson’s…

Jul 29, 2013 6:50 PM CDT

Controversial Facebook underwear photo offers a diversity message, says law grad seeking work

Brian Zulberti apparently hoped to stand out among the horde of recent law graduates seeking legal work by including a nontraditional photo of himself in a mass email to potential employers. And he succeeded, big time. Some might think the technique backfired when it caught the attention of Above the…

Jul 25, 2013 6:59 PM CDT

Greenpeace, gun groups join in suit over US surveillance ‘dragnet’ by Electronic Frontier Foundation

A wide swath of interest groups, ranging from Greenpeace to gun rights advocates, have joined the Electronic Frontier Foundation and a coalition of 19 organizations in filing a legal challenge to what the plaintiffs describe as an “illegal and unconstitutional program of dragnet electronic surveillance” by the U.S. government. Filed…

Jul 16, 2013 8:55 PM CDT

Bureaucrats, journalists didn’t make Google Groups chats private, putting confidential info online

Japanese bureaucrats and journalists admittedly failed to set privacy guards when using Google Groups to chat and share documents online, inadvertently revealing confidential information to anyone who accidentally happened upon it or thought to search for it on purpose. Although the set-up page allows the individual who establishes the group…

Jul 10, 2013 5:04 PM CDT

Now is the time to dial up Facebook privacy, as ‘Graph Search’ feature debuts

As Facebook rolls out a new “Graph Search” feature that will make it easier for users to collect data, now is the time for users to check their privacy settings. If you’ve ever “liked” someone or something that might prove embarrassing, it’s easy to prevent such information from being shared…

Jul 9, 2013 11:57 AM CDT

SCOTUS petition seeks halt to NSA surveillance, cites secret court order revealed by Snowden

The Electronic Privacy Information Center is filing an emergency petition with the U.S. Supreme Court asking for a halt to the National Security Agency’s collection of Americans’ phone records. EPIC’s petition seeks to overturn a secret order by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, revealed in a leak by Edward Snowden,…

Jul 8, 2013 4:27 PM CDT

Surveillance court redefined ‘relevant’ and special-needs doctrine to permit broad data collection

A special surveillance court of 11 judges appointed by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has issued a series of secret rulings that give the National Security Agency authority to collect large amounts of data in investigations of terrorism and other crimes affecting national security. The classified rulings define the…

Jul 8, 2013 3:10 PM CDT

School used student’s Facebook photo to illustrate how embarrassing posts never die, suit says

A Georgia school district administrator plucked a senior’s bikini photo from Facebook to illustrate the risks of posting pictures on the Internet, according to a $2 million privacy lawsuit filed by the teen. Chelsea Chaney told WSBTV she was embarrassed and horrified when the Fayette County School District used her…

Jul 8, 2013 1:14 PM CDT

Post office photocopies envelopes of all mail sent in the US, says NY Times

It isn’t just when using the Internet and making cellphone calls that Americans should assume what used to be considered private information may be known by corporate and/or government entities. In what started as an effort to combat anthrax threats, the U.S. Postal Service photocopies the envelopes of all mail…

Jul 3, 2013 6:40 PM CDT

Did US flub Snowden extradition request? Hong Kong cites legal problems, Russia cites neutral zone

American University law professor Steve Vladeck offers his take on why Edward Snowden was allowed to leave Hong Kong this weekend. “The Hong Kong authorities used the murkiness of extradition law to make what was a political decision,” he told the Washington Post. Snowden has been charged with espionage for…

Jun 24, 2013 12:15 PM CDT

Could NSA surveillance help an accused bank robbery conspirator? His lawyer thinks so

The lawyer for a Florida man accused in a series of bank robbery attempts says phone records collected by the National Security Agency could prove his client wasn’t at one of the crime sites. The lawyer, Marshall Dore Louis, has filed a motion for NSA records on phones used by…

Jun 13, 2013 1:49 PM CDT