Latest Publications

Share:

The President Revokes Prior Administration’s Executive Order on CDA Section 230

On May 14, 2021, President Biden issued an executive order revoking, among other things, his predecessor’s action (Executive Order 13295 of May 28, 2020) that directed the executive branch to clarify certain provisions under...more

Plaid Federal Electronic Surveillance Claims Dropped, Privacy Claims Survive

On April 30, 2021 a California district court trimmed various federal privacy-related claims, including the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) claim, from a highly-visible, ongoing putative class action against fintech...more

NFTs Are Interesting but Fractionalized Non-Fungible Tokens (F-NFTs) May Present Even More Challenging Legal Issues

Except for the extensive coverage surrounding Coinbase’s IPO last week and the volatility in the price of cryptocurrencies, much of the air in the crypto space in the last few months has been taken up by the meteoric rise of...more

Trove of Online LinkedIn User Data Fuels LinkedIn’s Anti-Scraping Position

Last week, the Italian data protection authority (the “GPDP”) opened an investigation after reports that a dataset allegedly containing data compiled from 500 million LinkedIn profiles and other websites was available for...more

Landmark Fair Use Victory at the Supreme Court in Software Case

In a narrowly drawn, yet significant decision, the Supreme Court reversed the Federal Circuit and ruled that Google LLC’s (“Google”) copying of some of the Sun Java Application Programming Interface (API) declaring code was a...more

Mobile App Platform Entitled to CDA Immunity over State Law Claims Related to In-App Purchases of Loot Boxes

Happy Silver Anniversary to Section 230 of Communications Decency Act (“CDA” or “Section 230”), which was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in February 1996. At that time, Congress enacted CDA Section 230 in response...more

2020 Annual Review and Outlook for Hedge Funds, Private Equity Funds and Other Private Funds

This yearly report provides a summary of some of the significant changes and developments that occurred in the past year in the hedge fund and private equity spaces, as well as certain recommended practices that investment...more

Group of Democratic Senators Release Latest CDA Reform Bill

With the change in administrations in Washington, there has been a drive to enact or amend legislation in a variety of areas. However, most initiatives lack the zeal found with the bipartisan interest in “reining in social...more

Southwest Airlines Sues to Stop Web Scraping of Fare Information

On January 14, 2021, Southwest Airlines Co. (“Southwest”) filed a complaint in a Texas district court against an online travel site, Kiwi.com, Inc. (“Kiwi”), alleging, among other things, that Kiwi’s scraping of fare...more

How to Respond to the SolarWinds “Orion” Supply Chain Attack

As reported last week, it appears that a state-sponsored security hack has resulted in a major security compromise in widely-used software offered by a company called SolarWinds. The compromised software, known as Orion, is...more

SolarWinds Vendor Supply Chain Attack: A Timely Reason to Review Procedures for Risk Assessments and Vendor Contracts

As reported last week, a state-sponsored hacker may have breached multiple U.S. government networks through a widely-used software product offered by SolarWinds. The compromised product, known as Orion, helps organizations...more

Mobile Platforms to Block Data Broker from Collecting User Location Data

On December 9, 2020, the Wall Street Journal reported that Apple and Google will block the data broker X-Mode Social Inc. (“X-Mode”) from collecting location data from iPhone and Android users. Apple and Google have...more

New York’s Broad Automatic Renewal Law (and the Accompanying Compliance Issues) Coming in February 2021

New York has enacted a new law, effective February 9, 2021, regulating automatic renewal and some “free trial” type agreements. While some organizations may have already taken steps to be in compliance with industry...more

Supreme Court Hears Oral Argument in Its First CFAA Case

On November 30, 2020, the Supreme Court held oral argument in its first case interpreting the “unauthorized access” provision of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). The CFAA in part prohibits knowingly accessing a...more

CDA “Reform” on the Horizon: Investors and Operators Take Note

The appetite for acquisitions and investment in online businesses has never been stronger, with many of the most attractive online opportunities being businesses that host, manage and leverage user-generated content. These...more

Facebook Brings Suit against Developers of a Browser Extension That Harvested User Data

In continuing its efforts to enforce its terms and policies against developers that engage in unauthorized scraping of user data, this week Facebook brought suit against two marketing analytics firms, BrandTotal Ltd...more

DOJ Submits CDA Reform Proposal to Congress to Curtail Protections for Online Platforms

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, 47 U.S.C. §230 (“Section 230” or the “CDA”), enacted in 1996, is generally viewed as the most important statute supporting the growth of Internet commerce. The key provision of...more

Thoughtful Presentations of Terms of Use Crucial for Enforceability

Many online services feature comprehensive terms of use intended to protect their business from various types of risks. While it is often the case that a great deal of thought goes into the creation of those terms, frequently...more

Financial Data Aggregator Faces Consumer Privacy Suit over “Surreptitious” Collection of Banking Information

Last week, a putative privacy-related class action was filed in California district court against financial analytics firm Envestnet, Inc. (“Envestnet”), which operates Yodlee, Inc. (“Yodlee”). (Wesch v. Yodlee Inc., No....more

Eclipsed by Evolving Law, Policy and Technology, Seminal Mobile Location Data Case Settled

This past week, the operator of the popular Weather Channel (“TWC”) mobile phone app entered into a Stipulation of Settlement with the Los Angeles City Attorney, Mike Feuer (“City Attorney”), closing the books on one of the...more

Commerce Dept. Petitions FCC to Issue Rules Clarifying CDA Section 230

The currents around the Communications Decency Act just got a little more turbulent as the White House and executive branch try to reel in the big fish of CDA reform. On July 27, 2020, the Commerce Department submitted a...more

hiQ Files Opposition Brief with Supreme Court in LinkedIn CFAA Data Scraping Dispute

Last week, hiQ Labs, Inc. (“hiQ”) filed its brief urging the Supreme Court to deny LinkedIn Corp.’s (“LinkedIn”) petition for a writ of certiorari in the Ninth Circuit’s blockbuster ruling in hiQ Labs, Inc. v. LinkedIn Corp.,...more

The Communication Decency Act and the DOJ’s Proposed Solution: No Easy Answers

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (“CDA”), 47 U.S.C. §230, enacted in 1996, is often cited as the most important law supporting the Internet, e-commerce and the online economy. Yet, it continues to be subject to...more

Wholesale Scraping of “Public” Data May Be Trade Secret Misappropriation

In what could be prove to be an important decision within the context of scraping of “public” data, in a recent case the Eleventh Circuit reversed a lower court’s dismissal of trade secret claims relating to the scraping of...more

Another Blockchain Supply Chain Shipping Consortium Files for Federal Antitrust Exemption

In late May, the Global Shipping Business Network (GSBN), a consortium of ocean carriers and terminal operators, filed a petition with the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) to obtain an antitrust exemption under the U.S....more

255 Results
 / 
View per page
Page: of 11

"My best business intelligence, in one easy email…"

Your first step to building a free, personalized, morning email brief covering pertinent authors and topics on JD Supra:
*By using the service, you signify your acceptance of JD Supra's Privacy Policy.
- hide
- hide