Posts Tagged ‘Privacy’

Are network neutrality and freedom from government surveillance incompatible?

The FBI would like to see Congress amend CALEA (the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act). FBI director Mueller recently testified that his agency wants legislation that will assure internet service providers “have the capability and the capacity to respond” to court orders allowing the eavesdropping on a person’s internet communications. CALEA currently requires that [...]

Is transparency the best norm for user privacy?

Discussions about how companies handle privacy are metadiscussions, because data use policies provide information about information, namely, how platforms collect, use and share it. It’s easy to come up with platitudes when operating in such an abstract realm. People like the catchy norm of “transparency.” It suggests that our dignitary ills are cured when we [...]

Alleged voyeur boss cannot pursue Computer Fraud and Abuse Act claim

Bashaw v. Johnson, 2012 WL 1623483 (D.Kan. May 9, 2012) Some employees filed suit after they learned that their boss — who required them to wear skirts to work — allegedly installed the Cam-u-flage video surveillance app on his iPhone and iPad to surreptitiously capture upskirt shots of plaintiffs at work. The boss filed a [...]

Why be concerned with social media estate planning?

The headline of this recent blog post by the U.S. government promises to answer the question of why you should do some social media estate planning. But the post falls short of providing a compelling reason to plan for how your social media accounts and other digital assets should be handled in the event of [...]

Employer not allowed to search for porn on employee’s home computer

In re Jordan, — S.W.3d —, 2012 WL 1098275 (Texas App., April 3, 2012) Former employee sued her old company for subjecting her to a sexually hostile workplace and for firing her after she reported it. She claimed that she had never looked at pornography before she saw some on the computers at work. During [...]

Video: This Week in Law Episode 150

Had a great time hosting This Week in Law Episode 150, which we recorded on February 24. (Thanks to Denise Howell for handing over the hosting reins while she was off for the week.) It was a really fun conversation with three very smart panelists — Mike Godwin, Greg Sergienko and Jonathan Frieden. We talked [...]

No restraining order against uncle posting family photos on Facebook

Court refuses to consider common law invasion of privacy tort to support restraining order under Minnesota statute. Olson v. LaBrie, 2012 WL 426585 (Minn. App. February 13, 2012) Appellant sought a restraining order against his uncle, saying that his uncle engaged in harassment by posting family photos of appellant (including one of him in front [...]

Teacher fired over Facebook post gets her job back

Court invokes notion of “contextual integrity” to evaluate social media user’s online behavior. Rubino v. City of New York, 2012 WL 373101 (N.Y. Sup. February 1, 2012) The day after a student drowned at the beach while on a field trip, a fifth grade teacher updated her Facebook status to say: After today, I am [...]

Six interesting technology law issues raised in the Facebook IPO

Patent trolls, open source, do not track, SOPA, PIPA and much, much more: Facebook’s IPO filing has a real zoo of issues. The securities laws require that companies going public identify risk factors that could adversely affect the company’s stock. Facebook’s S-1 filing, which it sent to the SEC today, identified almost 40 such factors. [...]

On the radio: Mobile devices and the Fourth Amendment

I was honored to be a guest on this morning’s episode of Oregon Public Broadcasting’s show Listen Out Loud, talking with host Dave Miller about the recent case of Schlossberg v. Solesbee. Listen to the interview here: MP3 We talked about the Fourth Amendment and, more specifically, the exceptions to the warrant requirement for searches [...]

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