..Blind spots. Self-driving cars are an excellent example of innovation, and the ones with Google technology have already traveled more than 700,000 miles. But what if a self-driving car doesn’t “see” a new traffic light or a...more
..Death in the digital age. When someone dies, his or her heirs or executor will have broad rights to access the deceased person’s letters, documents and other physical assets. Delaware has just become the first state to...more
..Better shop around. In connection with a new staff report, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) examined 121 popular apps used to comparison shop, find online deals and pay with mobile devices; the FTC concluded that many of...more
..On the right track? Google reportedly will be testing a new method of targeting mobile users, one which connects the company’s mobile web tracking mechanisms with its mobile app tracking mechanisms, thereby allowing Google...more
..May a lawyer ethically instruct a client to delete potentially damaging information from a client’s Facebook page? According to a new ethics opinion from the Philadelphia Bar Association, yes, so long as the information is...more
As the quality of visual recognition software continues to improve, privacy concerns have grown concomitantly. Because we now document our lives with so many pictures posted to social media—Facebook hosts over 250 billion...more
8/6/2014
Long arm of the law. A federal judge in Manhattan has upheld a magistrate judge’s ruling that Microsoft must turn over customer emails that are held in a Microsoft data center in Ireland. The key issue is whether...more
Going viral: Silencing its critics, Twitter posted strong second quarter results, adding 16 million new monthly active users and boosting its user base by 24 percent from this time last year....more
..Your tax dollars at work: Wikipedia placed a 10-day ban on changes to the collaborative encyclopedia from a certain IP address inside the U.S. Capitol after discovering that bizarre and embarrassing edits were being made...more
..According to a current study by Bank of America, Americans are very closely attached to their smartphones. Of those surveyed, 85 percent said they check their phone at least a few times a day and 35 percent say they check...more
..Since launching its Google+ social network three years ago, Google has insisted that Google+ users use only their real names on the network — no pseudonyms. Perhaps in an effort to attract more users to Google+, the...more
..A St. Louis juror’s use of Google to learn something about punitive damages during a trial, while qualifying as “knucklehead misconduct,” was not a sufficient basis for overturning the jury’s verdict, a judge has held...more
In This Issue:
- European Court of Justice Strengthens the Right to Be Forgotten
- California AG Offers Best Practices for Do Not Track Disclosures; Crucial Compliance Questions Left Unanswered
- Snap...more
7/11/2014
/ Data Protection ,
Do Not Track ,
EU ,
European Court of Justice (ECJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Internet ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Privacy Policy ,
Right to Be Forgotten ,
Snapchat ,
Social Media
..YouTube has started pointing out to users that service slowness or interruptions are occurring on its videos — a thinly veiled allusion to ISPs, whom YouTube blames for online slowness. Some refer to this as a form of...more
..A relatively new site called Wanelo combines the features of a social media site and an e-commerce site by permitting users to “save” products that they are interested in, and showing them to their online friends. The site...more
..The New York Court of Appeals has struck down that state’s “cyberbullying” law in a 5-2 decision, finding that it is overly broad and chills First Amendment-protected speech. The case arose when a 15-year-old boy pleaded...more
Modern Technology has increasingly blurred the line between business and personal lives, thanks in large part to social media that can broadcast employees’ views to friends and the public in a heartbeat. Companies are...more
..Facebook’s deputy general counsel describes the company’s pushback since last summer against sweeping search warrants issued by a court in New York for private data from no fewer than 381 Facebook users. The company regards...more
..A Gallup survey found that a majority of Americans do not turn to social media when making purchasing decisions — but the survey appears to be flawed in several respects, especially because the information was gathered 18...more
..In the top news story of the day, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Aereo in a closely watched copyright dispute with broadcasters; the Court found that Aereo engages in unauthorized public performances in violation of...more
Debt collectors are using social media more and more frequently to try to track down people who owe money, but they are bound by restrictions in the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act when they do so, just as if they used...more
..Are threats made on social media protected free speech, or potentially criminal acts? The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to examine the constitutionality of a federal law making it a crime to transmit communications...more
..Twitter’s leadership was thrown into disarray on June 12 after Ali Rowghani resigned suddenly as the company’s chief operating officer amid a dispute with Chief Executive Dick Costolo. Twitter’s stock has fallen about 42...more
..The CIA has entered the realm of social media, setting up a Twitter presence and a Facebook account. There one can find, among other things, reflections on intelligence history and fun facts from the CIA World Factbook...more
..The U.S. Secret Service is looking for software developers who can write programs that are capable of detecting sarcasm in postings on social media sites in order to distinguish real threats from facetious ones; some...more