Maryland Legislation Bans Employers From Requesting Social Media Passwords
Yesterday, Maryland became the first state to pass legislation banning employers from asking employees or job applicants to provide their passwords to social media sites. The legislation also...
View ArticleMySpace Settles FTC Charges
Yesterday, the FTC announced that MySpace has agreed to settle charges that it engaged in deceptive practices by disclosing personal information to third parties despite statements in its privacy...
View ArticleNY Legislature Introduces Bills to Curtail Anonymous Online Commenting
Two bills have been proposed in the New York State Legislature that aim to de-anonymize online commenting. The proposed Internet Protection Act — introduced in the identical bills S.6779 and A.8688...
View ArticleWhat Happened at the FTC Advertising and Privacy Workshop? (Part 1 of 2)
Yesterday, the FTC held a public workshop titled “In Short: Advertising & Privacy Disclosures in a Digital World.” The workshop explored whether and how the FTC should revise its 2000 guidance...
View ArticleN.J. Federal Court: Privacy Claim Based on Coerced Access to Employee's...
A federal district court in New Jersey ruled this week that an employer might have invaded an employee’s common-law privacy rights by coercing a co-worker into giving the employer access to the...
View ArticleNLRB Issues Updated Report on "Overbroad" Social Media Policies
By Brian Ryoo On May 30, National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) Acting General Counsel Lafe E. Solomon issued his third report on employer social media issues, focusing on “overbroad” employer social...
View ArticleLow Case Against LinkedIn Dismissed In Its Entirety
Yesterday, deeming LinkedIn’s motion to dismiss suitable for decision without oral argument, Judge Koh of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed all eight claims in...
View ArticleTwitter to Appeal NY Ruling that It Must Hand over Occupy Protestor's Tweets
Twitter has announced that it will appeal a New York state judge’s ruling that the company must hand over an Occupy Wall Street protestor’s tweets to the Manhattan district attorney. The defendant was...
View ArticleEuropean Data Protection Supervisor Issues Opinion on Children's Privacy
The European Data Protection Supervisor ("EDPS") has issued an opinion on Europe's strategy for protecting children on the Internet. The European Commission consults with the EDPS on a variety of data...
View ArticleIllinois Prohibits Employers from Requesting Employees' Social Networking...
On August 1, Illinois became the second state in the country to prohibit employers from requesting or requiring employees to provide their passwords for social networking accounts. As reported in this...
View ArticleTwitter Appeals Ruling Requiring It to Produce User's Tweets and Subscriber...
Earlier this week, Twitter appealed a New York state judge’s ruling that required the company to produce an Occupy Wall Street protestor’s tweets, email address, and certain subscriber information....
View ArticleJudge Dismisses Putative Class Action Against "Who's-Who of Social Media...
A court in Texas recently dismissed a lawsuit it described as “an aspiring class action against a veritable who’s-who of social media companies.” The Plaintiffs in Opperman v. Path claimed that the...
View ArticleNLRB Finds Costco Social Media Policy Unlawful
A three-member panel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) found that it is impermissible for Costco’s social media policy to ban employees from making electronic postings that damage the...
View ArticleNew California Laws Restrict Employer, College Access to Personal...
California is the latest state to enact legislation restricting the circumstances under which employers or schools can demand access to employees’ or students’ personal social media accounts....
View ArticleNLRB Finds DISH Network Social Media Policy Unlawful
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) continues to be active in considering whether companies' social media policies run afoul of U.S. labor laws. In the latest decision implementing the approach...
View ArticleNew Jersey Restricts Colleges' Access to Students' Personal Accounts,...
New Jersey earlier this month became the latest state to bar college and university officials from demanding access to students’ or applicants’ personal online accounts. Gov. Chris Christie signed the...
View ArticleFFIEC Proposes Social Media Guidance
On January 22, 2013, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council proposed guidance on the applicability of consumer protection and compliance laws, regulations, and policies to activities...
View ArticleFTC Settles Deception, COPPA Charges Against Social Networking App Path
Path, a social networking mobile app, has agreed to enter into a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) regarding charges that the company deceived consumers by collecting contact...
View ArticleBill Would Set Federal Restrictions on Employer, School Access to Personal...
A bill reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday would prohibit employers and schools from requesting or demanding access to employees’ or students’ personal social-media accounts....
View ArticleFTC Annual Report Reveals Identity Theft -- Not Privacy -- Is Top Consumer...
Yesterday the FTC released its annual report of consumer complaints, highlighting identity theft as the leading category of complaints, with 18% of the total. The 2012 report analyzes complaints...
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