In a rare moment of bi-partisanship, 42 Attorneys General support warning labels on social media platforms. This comes at a time when Australia is considering banning children under 12-14 from using social media and schools are restricting cell phone using . We, the attorneys general of the 42 undersigned states, write in support of the ..read more

In two years the Internet Law Center will celebrate its 20th year. This year, however, the firm is celebrating a somewhat bittersweet milestone — our first retirement. After fifteen years of helping this firm as a legal assistant with a specialty in trademark filings, Raun MacKinnon Burnham has taken her final bow. According to SevenReflections.com, the name Raun means: “You are giving, courageous and bold, action oriented,energetic and strong willed. You want to make a difference in the world, and this attitude often attracts you to cultural interests, politics, social issues, and the cultiva ..read more

I was excited to return to the California Lawyers Association’s IP Section’s IP and Emerging Technologies Conference (formerly IP and the Internet Conference). I have spoken at this conference many times and, when I was on the IP Section Executive Committee, I ran the 2016 conference in San Francisco. This year I spoke on the Emerging Law of Data Scraping. I started by discussing a conversation I had with “The Graduate” producer Lawrence Turman concerning this iconic scene which elicited, according to the American Film Institute, one of the top 100 movie quotations of all time. I asked him, s ..read more

I represent Claire Contreras (aka Maharlika) who is a Filipino-American video blogger in Southern California and outspoken critic of the current administration of Philippines President Ferdinand “Bong Bong” Marcos, Jr. She has been sued for defamation by a Filipino designer with close ties to the Marcos family and today we filed a motion under California’s Anti-SLAPP law to dismiss the claims. The anti-SLAPP law is designed to protect people from “Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation”. I normally do not post motions of pending cases, but because this was such an undertaking and beca ..read more

Epilogue: Trollbusters Scores Anthem Awards for Third Year in a Row ..read more

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 Fraud Prevention Alerts: “Reports about texts impersonating banks are up nearly twentyfold since 2019. You might get a fake number to call about supposed suspicious activity. Or they might say to reply “yes or no” to verify a large transaction (that you didn ..read more

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 to develop and deploy generative models. These concerns are not new or unique to generative AI, but the scale, scope, and capacity of such technologies may present new privacy challenges for Cong ..read more

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 in 2000, the international framework in place was the US-EU Privacy Safe Harbor Program. Austrian lawyer and privacy advocate Max Schrems challenged the adequacy of the Safe Harbor Program citing revelations from Edward S ..read more

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 following notice of a violation. STATE LAW EFFECTIVE DATE CURE PERIOD CA California ConsumerPrivacy Act (CCPA) Jan-1-2023 – CO Colorado Privacy Act (CPA) Jul-1-2023 60 days (expires 2025) CT Connecticut Data Privacy Act (CTDPA) Jul ..read more

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 suppresses wages, hampers innovation, and blocks entrepreneurs from starting new businesses.” The FTC estimates that the ban could “increase wages by nearly $300 billion per year” and expand career opportunities for American workers ..read more