Under the California Online Privacy Protection Act (Bus. & Prof. Code §§ 22575-22579), websites or online services collecting personally identifiable information from California consumers shall “conspicuously post its privacy policy”. There are a number of requirements of such a policy, including that it addresses how its responds to Web browser “do not track” signals. While…
California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris announced the creation of the California Cyber Crime Center (C4), a new initiative within the California Department of Justice to fight crime in the digital era by bringing state-of-the-art digital forensic capabilities and cyber security expertise to law enforcement across the state. C4 brings together the eCrime unit, established…
Lawyers for the Backpage executives charged with pimping a minor, pimping, and conspiracy to commit pimping demanded that charges be dismissed on the grounds that the prosecution violates the First Amendment and is preempted by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. First Amendment Davis Wright Tremaine’s letter to Attorney General Harris contended that: The State cannot…
Backpage CEO Carl Ferrer was arrested by Texas authorities on a California warrant upon arrival at Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport on felony charges of pimping a minor, pimping, and conspiracy to commit pimping. Authorities also raised Backpage’s Dallas headquarters. The complaint lists five instances of minors (four who were under 16) allegedly paying to advertise…
Cal AG Harris Launches Cyber Exploitation Initiative California Attorney General Kamala Harris and her task force of industry, academia and law enforcement has tried to set a new benchmark for the combating revenge porn. First, let’s start with the name “Revenge Porn” which is demeaning and suggests that the victim did something to warrant revenge.…
Landmark Victories for Revenge Porn Opponents Last week saw the announcement of two major victories in the battle against revenge porn. First,.Kevin Bollaert was convicted by a San Diego County jury of 27 felony counts of identity theft and extortion in connection with a revenge porn operation. Bollaert was behind the website UGotPosted and at…
Cal AG Harris is Promoting Greater Privacy Awareness Among Tech Sector With Privacy Guides As California Attorney General Kamala Harris’ first term comes to a close, she has given online privacy a greater priority than any of her predecessors. Among the steps she has taken during her first term are: Securing a deal with leading app…
Attorney General Harris Preparing Compliance Guidance Statement for New Privacy Laws Last fall California passed two amendments to its privacy laws – one concerning how a website treats Do Not Track Requests and the other providing a “right to be forgotten” to minors. See Browns Signs 1 Data Breach and 2 Privacy Bills Into Law, along…
Virginia Court Orders Revealing Yelp Reviewers A Virginia appeals court ordered Yelp to reveal the identity of a reviewer of an Alexandria carpet cleaner where the business presented evidence to cast doubt that the reviewer was ever a customer. Generally, a Yelp review is entitled to First Amendment protection because it is aperson’s opinion about a…
Browns Signs 1 Data Breach and 2 Privacy Bills Into Law California Governor Brown has now signed a data breach and two privacy bills into law at the conclusion of the legislative session. These are significant because the Attorney General has a newly minted privacy enforcement unit and has said that data breaches will be…
California AG Makes Privacy Recommendation for Mobile Apps California Attorney General Kamala Harris released a report “Privacy on the Go: Recommendations for the Mobile Ecosystem,” urging mobile app developers to adopt fair privacy practices such as (i) avoiding collecting personally identifiable data not needed for app’s basic functionality, (ii) make the app’s privacy policy accessible…
New Jersey Becomes Third State to Approve Online Gambling, More to Follow New Jersey has joined Delaware and Nevada among states that have legalized intrastate online gambling, while Massachusetts, California, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa and Mississippi are considering similar moves. As states look for a big payout in revenue from such measures, recent studies have analyzed past…
California law is clear that mobile apps collecting personal information need privacy policies, and that the users of those apps deserve to know what is being done with their personal information. — California Attorney General Kamala Harris on bringing first lawsuit for failure to include privacy policy with mobile app. The Law: California Online Privacy…
Governor Brown Signs Social Media Snooping Law California Governor Brown signed Assembly Bill 1844 (Campos) and Senate Bill 1349 (Yee) which prohibit prohibit universities and employers from requiring that applicants give up their email or social media account passwords. “The Golden State is pioneering the social media revolution and these laws will protect all Californians from…
Who Won and Why With Pollster Michael O’Neil Michael J. O’Neil is President of O’Neil Associates, a national public opinion research firm based in Tempe, Arizona. O’Neil Associates has conducted more than 1,700 opinion research surveys in the last 35 years for entities including Fortune 100 companies, law firms, labor unions, hospitals, utilities, nonprofits, and…
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