News

The British Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched a survey and found that online reviews and endorsements are proving useful to consumers. However, the survey also showed potentially misleading practices (fake reviews, negative reviews not being published, etc.). In response, the CMA opened an investigation into a number of companies. More information is available at […]

On June 16, 2015, the Article 29 Working Party (WP29) adopted an opinion on the utilization of drones for all civil purposes. According to WP29, several privacy risks may arise in relation to the processing of data carried out by the equipment on-board a drone. “Such risks can range from a lack of transparency of […]

A divided Louisiana supreme court disbarred a lawyer opinion who utilized the internet and social media to raise an on-line petition on a matter she litigated and to urge the public to contact two judges (i.e., the judge of the Louisiana proceeding and the one of the Mississippi proceeding). While the hearing board and the disciplinary board had recommended […]

In Formal Opinion 2015-193 the State Bar of California Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct (“California Ethics Committee” or “Committee”) discussed three of the duties applicable to attorneys involved in e-discovery: the duty of competency, the duty to supervise, and the duty of confidentiality. The Committee advised that the duty of competency required attorneys […]

On July 1, 2015 the STANDING COMMITTEE ON ETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY released Formal Opinion 471 -“Ethical Obligations of Lawyer to Surrender Papers and Property to which Former Client is Entitled” Digest: “Upon the termination of a representation, a lawyer is required under Model Rules 1.15 and 1.16(d) to take steps to the extent reasonably practicable […]

On June 4, 2015, the Minnesota District Court dismissed a data breach class action for lack of constitutional standing because the plaintiffs did not allege injury in fact. Carlsen v. GameStop. In this class action, Plaintiffs subscribed to a videogame magazine accessible through the web. The terms of service for the online subscription included a privacy […]

As we previously reported (see here) on May 7, 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit found that the controversial surveillance program according to which the National Security Agency (NSA) has been collecting Americans’ phone records was not authorized under Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act (ACLU v. Clapper, 2015 U.S. […]

The result of one of Europe’s most anxiously awaited data protection cases came out last week. We have previously reported on the action brought by Max Schrems in Austria against Facebook. Our previous alert with background on the case is here. What happened? On July 1, 2015, the Vienna Regional Court (Landesgericht) rejected the Schrems […]

On July 1, 2015,  the Vienna Regional Court (Landesgericht) rejected a class action (Datenschutz Sammelklage) complaint brought by Max Schrems, an Austrian data protection activist, against Facebook Inc. for lack of jurisdiction The court (Landesgericht) found in first instance that it is not entitled to decide on the class action claiming that Facebook breached EU […]

In May 2015, New York Stock Exchange NYSE Governance Services surveyed nearly 200 directors of public companies representing a variety of industries—including financial services, technology, and health care—to discover how they view cybersecurity in the boardroom. The goal of the survey goal was to gain insight into how cybersecurity is being understood, prioritized, and addressed at the […]