The California Song-Beverly Credit Card Act (the “Act”) – an act intended to protect the personal privacy of individuals during credit card transactions – may very well become the new trend in California privacy litigation. ...more
ANA, 4As Battle Over Transparency Guidance - Two industry groups are engaging in a public battle over transparency. The dispute began when a joint task force was formed between the American Association of...more
Lawyers representing a purported class of customers who accused retailer OfficeMax North America Inc. (OfficeMax) of illegally recording their zip codes tried again this week to gain court approval of a settlement deal agreed...more
On June 20, 2013, the California Court of Appeal affirmed the dismissal of a putative class action which alleged that Chevron violated California’s Song-Beverly Credit Card Act (“Song-Beverly”) by requiring California...more
Privacy Tidbits to start your week - The Risk-Benefit Analysis of BYOD: As we have written in the past, the proliferation of the “bring your own device” (BYOD) trend is a high-wire balancing act for IT and...more
A California court ruled last week that retailers could lawfully collect ZIP code information to reduce credit card fraud, efforts that result in lower prices for consumers. Following the California Supreme Court’s decision...more
In March, we blogged about Tyler v. Michaels Stores, a recent Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling, holding that zip codes are personally identifiable information and disavowing data mining by zip code....more
Another class action suit has been filed in Massachusetts in the zip code wars. This time, the target is instrument retailer Guitar Center for allegedly requesting customers to provide their zip codes when making purchases...more
A Friendly Reminder from the FTC: You May Be in Trouble - Continuing the countdown to the effective date of the amended Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Rule, the Federal Trade Commission sent “educational...more
In a recent decision, Tyler v. Michaels Stores, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ("SJC") has increased the risk of class action lawsuits under M.G.L. c. 93A against retailers who collect consumers' ZIP codes during...more
In This Issue: - Data-Breach Class Actions After the Supreme Court Decision in Clapper - California Supreme Court Holds That Song-Beverly Credit Card Act Does Not Apply to Online Purchases -...more
Earlier this month, we reported on the privacy case against craft giant Michaels Stores in which the plaintiff alleged that Michaels illegally collected zip codes during credit card transactions. The case was ultimately...more
In a recent decision, Tyler v. Michaels Stores, Inc., the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that zip codes are “personal identification information” and that a merchant asking for that information during a credit card...more
In a recent ruling arising from certain certified questions in Tyler v. Michaels Stores, Inc., Civ. No. 11-10920-WGY (D. Mass. Jan. 6, 2012, the Massachusetts Supreme Court interpreted “personal identification information”...more
In This Issue: Marc Roth and Lindsay Conner to Serve as Faculty for PLI Information Technology Law Institute 2013; Data Security, Emerging Tech to Be Focus for FTC; Mobile Payment Services Subject of New FTC Report;...more
Last week, in Tyler v. Michaels Stores, Inc., the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts responded to certified questions presented by the district court and interpreted a Massachusetts statute to reflect the state’s...more
Earlier this month, the Massachusetts Supreme Court issued an opinion holding that zip codes “may well qualify” as personally identifiable information under the Massachusetts law controlling the treatment of PII in credit...more
Today, Foley & Lardner LLP issued a Legal News Alert for our clients regarding the recent decision of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court that ZIP Codes are “personal identification information” and therefore it is a...more
In a decision last week, the Massachusetts Supreme Court held that zip codes are personally identifiable information, perhaps serving as a harbinger for other state court decisions still yet to come. This ruling is important...more
The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts recently held that collecting a consumer's ZIP code at the point of sale may violate Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 93, Section 105(a) (Section 105(a)), which restricts the...more
Massachusetts appears to have followed California’s lead in opening a litigation floodgate over ZIP code collection at the point of sale. In 2011, the California Supreme Court held in Pineda v. Williams-Sonoma Stores, Inc.,...more
“May I have your zip code?” is an all-too-familiar question that may be going the way of the dinosaur in Massachusetts. Many retailers commonly ask customers for their zip codes when processing credit card transactions at,...more
Yesterday, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) ruled that zip codes constitute “personal identification information” under G.L. c. 93. The question of law came to the SJC from the U.S. District Court for...more
A little over a year ago, the United States District Court for the Central District of California ruled that California’s Song-Beverly Act (the Act), which prohibits collection of “personal identification information” in...more
The California Supreme Court held on February 4, 2013 that the provision of the Song-Beverly Credit Card Act of 1971 (the “Act”) prohibiting retailers from requesting personally identifying information as a condition to...more