The report explains: Generative AI models have received significant attention and scrutiny due to their potential harms, such as risks involving privacy, misinformation, copyright, and non-consensual sexual imagery. This report focuses on privacy issues and relevant policy considerations for Congress. Some policymakers and stakeholders have raised privacy concerns about how individual data may be used…
Under the European Data Directive and its successor, the General Data Protection Regulation, data of a European subject may be transferred out of the EU only via an approved international framework or through approved Standard Contract Clauses (SCC) contained in Data Protection Agreements or binding corporate rules approved by the relevant data protection authority. Beginning…
There are now a dozen states that have enacted comprehensive privacy legislation similar in many respects to California’s landmark comprehensive privacy law, with Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Montana, Oregon, Texas, Tennessee, and Utah each enacting laws this year. A list of the laws, their effective date (laws in effect are in bold), and applicable cure period…
In January, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed a new rule that would ban employers from imposing noncompete clauses on their workers (employees, contractors, interns etc.) and require employers to rescind existing noncompete clauses and inform workers that they are no longer in effect. The FTC described the practice as an “often exploitative practice that…
E-commerce / FTC / FTC Disclosure Guidelines / FTC Endorsement Guidelines / Review Sites / Social Media
The Federal Trade Commission intends to issue new rules to address fake reviews that would include a penalty of up to $50,120 per fake review. The FTC has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPR) and there will be a sixty-day comment period once the rule is published in the Federal Register. The FTC cited…
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reports that text message scams cost $330 million in losses in 2022. Being alert to scams and educating employees about them can protect your company, your employees, and your data from catastrophic consequences. In 2022, the FTC indicated that these were the top text message scams: #1: #1: Copycat Bank…
On Wednesday, July 27, I will be presenting at the California Lawyers Association IP Section’s conference on IP and the Internet, on the topic of the FTC and Online Reviews. Participation is virtual. 2022 IP AND THE INTERNET JULY 27 @ 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM Schedule Link Registration Link See also:
In April, the 9th Circuit again affirmed that scraping data from a public website did not by itself constitute a violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”). HiQ Labs, Inc. v. LinkedIn Corporation, Case No. No. 17-16783 (9th Cir. April 18, 2022). See Ninth Circuit Again Holds Data Scraping From Public Websites Not…
In December 2020, Congress passed the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act of 2020 (CASE Act), which directed the Copyright Office to establish the Copyright Claims Board (CCB). As explained by the Copyright Office, the CCB is a three-member tribunal within the Office that provides an “efficient and user-friendly option to resolve certain copyright disputes that…
In November 2020, California voters passed Proposition 24, the California Privacy Rights Act (“Prop 24”). The CPRA amends and extends the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”). To implement the law, the CPRA established the California Privacy Protection Agency (“Agency”) and vested it with the full administrative power, authority and jurisdiction to implement and…
House Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ), along with Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) the ranking Republican on the Committee, and Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) who is the ranking Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, released a discussion draft of the American Data Privacy and Protection Act which is a comprehensive national data…
The Federal Trade Commission’s Dot Com Disclosure guidelines, first issued in 2000 and updated in March 2013, have explained how to make consumer disclaimers on various digital platforms. The FTC has just announced that it is seeking to modernize the guidelines and its press release says it all – FTC Looks to Modernize Its Guidance…
In 2017, the federal district court for the Northern District of California enjoined LinkedIn from blocking workplace analytics company hiQ from its site, finding that data scraping from public-facing websites did not violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”). LinkedIn appealed and in 2020 the Ninth Circuit affirmed: [The CFAA’s] prohibition on accessing a…
Last year there were a number of reports of how women, women politicians, and women journalists were disproportionately targeted for abuse on online platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. See LA Times, The Hill Highlight Online Abuse of Women Politicians and Journalists. One of those reports was a Wilson Center report entitled Malign Creativity:…
When the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) actually has guidelines concerning the use of a particular word, that would suggest caution in using that word. In this case, the word is “Free” and the FTC has guidelines concerning its usage which boils down to one sentence – “free” should mean “free”. Anyone watching this year’s exciting…
Fashion Nova, an online fashion retailer, agreed to pay $4.2 million as part of a consent decree with the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) in which it will be prohibited from suppressing customer reviews of its products. The FTC alleged in a complaint that Fashion Nova misrepresented that the product reviews on its website reflected the views of…
In 2013, California became one of the first states to outlaw revenge porn (also known as cyber exploitation or digital rape) in enacting Penal Code § 647(j)(4). Shortly thereafter, the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative published a study finding that: (i) 93% of victims suffered significant emotional distress as a result of their victimization; (ii) 82%…
In August 2020, Alexei Navalny, the jailed Russian opposition leader and anti-corruption activist whom the Wall Street Journal calls “the man Vladimir Putin fears most”, was medically evacuated to Berlin after being poisoned by a nerve agent that was linked to Russia’s Federal Security Service. He returned to Russia in January 2021 and was arrested…
Claiming there is “a dangerous movement by social media companies to silence conservative viewpoints and ideas,” Texas Governor Jim Abbott (R) signed H.B. 20 (An Act relating to censorship of or certain other interference with digital expression, including expression on social media platforms or through electronic mail messages). The Act is strictly an act of…
Cyber Report 