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

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 various findings on the prevalence of fake reviews which may be as high as 40 percent. Add in the emergence of AI chatbots and the FTC fears that this will only “make it easier for bad actors to write fake reviews.” As a result, the FTC believes that this must be addressed by rulemaking ..read more

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 ..read more

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 Barred by CFAA. Consistent with this decision, in May the Justice Department announced that it will not bring “exceeds authorized access” cases based on the theory that a defendant’s authorization to access a particular file, database, folder, or user account was conditio ..read more

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 involve up to $30,000 (called “small claims”).” It started taking cases in June. Given that a defendant may opt-out, it is unclear what impact this new court will have. Key features of the CCB are: User-friendly ..read more