As we previously reported, in October 2014 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a complaint against AT&T in federal court alleging that AT&T’s “throttling” practices for mobile broadband subscribers who were “grandfathered” into the company’s unlimited mobile data plan were unfair and deceptive in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act. On Monday, AT&T … Continue Reading
Yesterday, the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) Enforcement Bureau issued a reminder that annual CPNI certifications for calendar year 2013 must be filed with the FCC by March 1, 2014. The FCC requires telecommunications service providers (including paging providers, commercial mobile radio services providers, and calling card providers) and interconnected VoIP service providers to file an … Continue Reading
The Edward Snowden leaks have forced Americans to question whether the government monitors their online activities. But intelligence-gathering is not the only government threat to Internet privacy: plaintiffs in defamation cases are using court subpoenas to attempt to unmask Internet users’ identities. In some seedy corners of the Internet, commenters use the veil of anonymity … Continue Reading
Reporters nationwide have faced a flurry of subpoenas in recent months, calling into question whether journalists can guarantee confidentiality to sources. The repeated attempts to force journalists to reveal their confidential sources and other information about their newsgathering demonstrate the need for strong reporter “shield laws” on both the federal and state level. Among some … Continue Reading
The Virginia Court of Appeals held this week that Internet users who may have posted fake reviews of companies do not have a right to remain anonymous. Hadeed Carpet Cleaning in Alexandria, Va., filed a defamation lawsuit against seven Yelp users who wrote critical reviews about Hadeed and a related business. Hadeed claims that it … Continue Reading
For more than a decade, a New Jersey appellate court’s opinion guided courts nationwide as they determined whether to enforce subpoenas for the identities of anonymous online speakers. But in 2013, courts increasingly moved away from the New Jersey court’s test, leading to further divergence in the methods that courts use to determine whether a … Continue Reading
Earlier today, two entities — the Direct Marketing Association (“DMA”) and a Coalition of Mobile Engagement Providers (“Coalition”) — filed petitions at the FCC asking the agency to stay and forbear from enforcing, or clarify, certain aspects of the “prior express written consent” requirement that went into effect yesterday for prerecorded calls to residential numbers and autodialed … Continue Reading
A Virginia federal court opinion issued this week illustrates the hazards of allowing employees to retain access to confidential company information after they learn of their termination. On November 3, 2011, ECS Federal, Inc. informed Jacqueline Marsteller, a senior vice president and account executive, that she would be terminated effective at the end of the year. … Continue Reading
New Jersey has enacted restrictions on the ability of employers to access employees’ social media accounts, becoming the twelfth state to enact such legislation. More than 30 state legislatures have considered bills on the topic in 2013, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. New Restrictions in New Jersey New Jersey’s new law, signed … Continue Reading
The US Information Security and Privacy Board (ISPAB) voiced concerns over potential harms resulting from a lack of controlled management of cybersecurity in wireless medical devices in response to the FDA’s draft guidance, “Content of Premarket Submissions for Management of Cybersecurity in Medical Devices.” ISPAB operates under the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in … Continue Reading
A group of senators announced on Wednesday that they would renew their push for federal legislation to limit the ability of federal authorities to compel journalists to reveal information about or obtained from confidential sources, after the U.S. Department of Justice announced it would tighten its own standards for when to seek such information. The … Continue Reading
Telecommunications carriers and providers of interconnected VoIP service with access to certain kinds of customer information collected through mobile devices are subject to existing privacy rules governing their use and disclosure of that information, the Federal Communications Commission announced in a declaratory ruling adopted at its June 27 meeting. Significantly, the decision makes clear that … Continue Reading
The issue of cybersecurity has been on FDA’s radar in the last year, due in part to a Government Accountability Office report issued last August that urged FDA to consider the risk of intentional threats to device information security. Although the GAO report noted that FDA was not aware of any actual incident of device … Continue Reading
A seller who authorizes a third-party telemarketer to market the seller’s goods or services may be held vicariously liable if the telemarketer violates the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), the Federal Communications Commission held in a May 9 declaratory ruling. The FCC’s ruling interprets two subsections of the TCPA. The first subsection — 47 U.S.C. … Continue Reading
Companies are increasingly allowing employees to access work email and apps on their personal devices, according to a new Gartner survey of chief information officers. But employers confront many tough policy and legal questions when they adopt Bring Your Own Device (“BYOD”) programs. Thirty-eight percent of the CIOs said that their organizations will stop providing … Continue Reading
The First Amendment does not protect the identities of computer hackers, a New Jersey appellate court held this month. Warren Hospital alleges that two anonymous individuals hacked into its web and email servers and sent inappropriate and defamatory messages to all hospital employees. The hospital and some employees filed a civil action against the John … Continue Reading
A Michigan appellate court ruled last week that state discovery rules provide adequate safeguards for anonymous online speech. The opinion is a significant deviation from the rulings of other state courts, which have applied a First Amendment balancing test to determine whether to grant discovery requests for the identities of anonymous online speakers. Thomas M. … Continue Reading
On March 29, the American Chamber of Commerce in China (“AmCham China”) released its 15th annual Business Climate Survey. This year, AmCham China polled 325 of its members, most of which are U.S. companies operating in China. According to AmCham China’s Chairman, this year’s results reflect “expectations for growth” tempered with “a more conservative business … Continue Reading
Florida lawmakers have proposed that the government be required to obtain a warrant before searching the contents of “portable electronic devices” or tracking their locations. The bill, S.B. 846, was introduced by State Representative Jeff Brandes and would go into effect on July 1, 2013. The proposed Florida law would apply to “portable electronic devices,” … Continue Reading
In his State of the Union message on Tuesday, President Obama announced that he had signed an Executive Order addressing the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure. President Obama emphasized that in the face of threats to corporate secrets, the power grid, and financial institutions, among others, “We cannot look back years from now and wonder why … Continue Reading
Path, a social networking mobile app, has agreed to enter into a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) regarding charges that the company deceived consumers by collecting contact information from users’ mobile address books without notice and consent. The agreement also resolves charges that the company violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) … Continue Reading
Last month, senior officials from the U.S. and China conducted the 23rd U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) in Washington, D.C. The JCCT was founded in 1983 as a forum for high-level dialogue on bilateral trade issues. This year’s JCCT resulted in several technology-related commitments from both China and the U.S. China’s technology-related … Continue Reading
The Federal Communications Commission yesterday released a Smartphone Security Checker, a tool designed to help consumers secure their smartphones against mobile security threats. The tool provides consumers with tips that are customized for four different mobile operating systems. Many of tips focus on security-related topics. For instance, the tool recommends that consumers set a password … Continue Reading
China appears to be moving forward with plans to further regulate smartphones. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently filed a notification with the WTO’s Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade of draft regulations governing applications that are pre-loaded on to smartphones. The regulations were initially released for comment on June 1, and attracted … Continue Reading
