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Mealey's Data Privacy

February 22, 2023
Magistrate Won’t Dismiss Claims That Patreon Violated Users’ Video-Viewing Privacy

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal magistrate judge denied Patreon Inc.’s motion to dismiss putative class claims that it illegally shared its users’ video-viewing data with social media company Meta Platforms Inc. in violation of the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) but dismissed the plaintiffs’ claim for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) under the fraudulent prong.
February 22, 2023
Cruise Lines, Florida Agree To Dismiss Appeal Of Florida Vaccine Documentation Ban

ATLANTA — In an appeal before the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in which the state of Florida challenged a federal court’s ruling enjoining the state surgeon general from enforcing a statutory ban on businesses requiring customers to provide documentation of COVID-19 vaccination, the state and the group of cruise lines that originally sued to block the statutory ban filed a joint stipulation of dismissal two months after a split 11th Circuit panel denied the cruise lines’ motion to dismiss the appeal as moot.
February 22, 2023
Wikimedia Denied Certiorari Over State Secrets Privilege In NSA Surveillance Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Wikimedia Foundation’s challenge to the dismissal of its lawsuit over the National Security Agency’s upstream surveillance program came to an end on Feb. 21, when the U.S. Supreme Court denied Wikimedia’s petition for certiorari, declining to consider whether a trial court properly invoked the state secrets privilege in disposing of the case.
February 17, 2023
In Revised Approval Motion, Facebook Users Defend $37.5 Million Privacy Agreement

SAN FRANCISCO — Two months after a California federal judge declined to approve a proposed $37.5 million settlement of a privacy suit over purported location tracking by Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook Inc.), the plaintiffs submitted a renewed preliminary approval motion, defending the settlement fund amount as “substantial” and providing “meaningful relief” to the proposed class of Facebook users.
February 15, 2023
Tester’s Class Suit Accusing Hot Topic Of Sharing Chats Tossed By Federal Judge

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A “tester” who brought a class complaint accusing a retailer of violating California privacy laws by sharing online chats between the retailer and website visitors with at least one third party failed to establish subject matter jurisdiction or show that the retailer was itself or was aiding “a third-party eavesdropper within the meaning” of one of the laws and that the second law was applicable, a federal judge in California ruled Feb. 14.
February 14, 2023
Judge Denies Personal Data Website’s Motion To Strike Putative UCL Class Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge denied a personal data aggregation website’s motion filed pursuant to the state’s anti-Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) law to strike or dismiss a woman’s putative class action against it for violations of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other statutes, finding that the woman’s claims do not revolve around protected speech.
February 10, 2023
Magistrate Permits Search Of Cell Tower Records For Sex-Trafficking Investigation

CHICAGO — The U.S. Department of Justice was granted an application for a warrant to search cell tower data as part of its investigation of several violent crimes in Chicago that included sex trafficking, with an Illinois federal magistrate judge finding that proposed protocols within the warrant sufficiently safeguard third-party privacy interests for uninvolved individuals whose data might be included in the search results.
February 09, 2023
Only Unredacted Portions Of Administrative Record In Disability Suit Will Be Sealed

PORTLAND, Maine — A Maine federal judge determined that the interest of the public outweighs a disability insurer’s burden of redacting personally identifiable information from the administrative record and said that only the unredacted portions of the administrative record will be sealed.
February 07, 2023
FTC, GoodRx Agree To $1.5 Million Settlement For Privacy Violations

OAKLAND, Calif. — The Federal Trade Commission and an online prescription and medical services provider have agreed to settle the commission’s claims of deceptive acts and misappropriation of private health information (PHI), filing in California federal court a joint motion for entry of a proposed stipulation under which the defendant will pay a $1.5 million penalty, enact a comprehensive privacy program and comply with various privacy assurance and certification procedures.
February 03, 2023
IHeartMedia Sued For Sharing Site Users’ Video Viewing Information With Facebook

TAMPA, Fla. — A putative class complaint filed in Florida federal court alleges that iHeartMedia Inc. (IHM) shares the personal viewing information (PVI) of users of its website with Facebook in violation of the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA).
February 03, 2023
Ohio Federal Judge Won’t Dismiss Right Of Publicity Case Against Ancestry.com

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Allegations that Ancestry.com violated the right of publicity of a purported plaintiff class when providing class members’ yearbook photos and other personal information to subscribers will proceed, a federal judge in Ohio has ruled, rejecting the genealogy website’s motion to dismiss.
February 02, 2023
Illinois High Court: 5-Year Limitations Period Applies To Biometric Privacy Act

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The five-year statute of limitations period in Section 13-205 of the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure applies to claims brought under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), the Illinois Supreme Court ruled Feb. 2 in a class complaint by a worker alleging that his former employer collected the information without consent and then disclosed it to others without permission.
January 30, 2023
Activist Group Seeks FDA Compliance With FOIA Requests For Adverse Vaccination Data

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A children’s advocacy group known for questioning the safety and efficacy of vaccinations sued the Food and Drug Administration seeking to compel the agency to comply with two Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for records of the FDA’s safety monitoring of COVID-19 injections through the Vaccine Adverse Effects Reporting System (VAERS).
January 27, 2023
Meta Voices Support For $725 Million Settlement Of Profile-Sharing Privacy Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — A month after plaintiffs filed a motion for preliminary approval of a $725 million settlement of a multidistrict litigation over the 2015 Facebook profile-sharing incident, Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook Inc.) filed a statement in California federal court expressing its support of the agreement that would terminate the more than four-year-old consolidated lawsuit.
January 26, 2023
Alexa Eavesdropping Plaintiffs Accuse Amazon Of Flouting Court’s Discovery Order

SEATTLE — In a reply supporting a motion to compel, the plaintiffs in a putative class action over purported eavesdropping by Amazon.com Inc.’s Alexa digital assistant ask a Washington federal court to compel the online retailer to comply with a previous discovery order via the court-ordered custodial search terms rather than by using “technology-assisted review” (TAR).
January 25, 2023
Wikimedia Asks High Court To Resolve Questions Of State Secrets Privilege

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a Jan. 24 reply brief supporting its petition for certiorari, Wikimedia Foundation tells the U.S. Supreme Court that its lawsuit alleging statutory and constitutional violations in the National Security Agency’s upstream surveillance activities was wrongly dismissed under the state secrets privilege despite the fact that it was “able to proceed based entirely on public evidence.”
January 25, 2023
Final Settlement Hearing Held For $350 Million T-Mobile Data Breach MDL

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Six months after granting preliminary approval to a $350 million settlement that would settle a multidistrict litigation over a 2021 data breach that exposed the personally identifiable information (PII) of millions of T-Mobile US Inc. and T-Mobile USA Inc. (T-Mobile, collectively), a Missouri federal judge presided over a final approval hearing for the settlement.
January 24, 2023
Government Asks High Court To Uphold Fraud Sentence Under Identity Theft Statute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals properly upheld a trial court’s aggravated identity theft conviction of a psychologist under a federal identity theft statute, the U.S. government tells the U.S. Supreme Court in a Jan. 23 respondent brief, contending that although the petitioner did not steal anything, he nevertheless used a patient’s identity to commit health care fraud, which constituted a direct violation of the statute.
January 23, 2023
Objectors To Zoom Privacy Settlement Seek Incentive Awards, Attorney Fees

SAN JOSE, Calif. — In a reply brief, three class members who filed objections and now-dismissed appeals to the $85 million privacy class settlement with Zoom Video Communications Inc. defend their motions for incentive awards and attorney fees, telling a California federal court that their individually negotiated settlements with the defendant benefited the entire class and enhanced the class settlement.
January 18, 2023
11th Circuit Declines To Find Appeal Of Florida Vaccine Documentation Ban Moot

ATLANTA — In an appeal by Florida of a preliminary injunction granted by a Florida federal court enjoining the state surgeon general from enforcing a statutory ban on businesses requiring customers to provide documentation of COVID-19 vaccination, a split panel of the 11th U.S. Court of Appeals denied a motion by a group of cruise ship lines to dismiss the appeal as moot, concluding that the cruise lines had not suspended their vaccination requirements and had continued to defend their right to equitable relief by requesting that the preliminary injunction be left intact.
January 13, 2023
Indiana Panel: Cyber Protection Endorsement’s Arbitration Agreement Does Not Apply

INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana appeals panel held that an arbitration agreement in an insurance policy’s Cyber Protection Endorsement “clearly and unambiguously does not apply” a coverage dispute over claims that strip club owners used models’ photographs without their permission, reversing and remanding a lower court’s ruling that granted the models’ motion to compel arbitration.
January 13, 2023
SEC Seeks To Compel Law Firm To Comply With Investigative Subpoena Over Cyberattack

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Citing a refusal by Covington & Burling LLP to disclose the names of 298 of its clients that were affected by a cyberattack, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed an application in District of Columbia federal court, seeking an order to show cause why the law firm should not be compelled to comply with an investigative subpoena by which the SEC says it wants to determine whether any material nonpublic information (MNPI) was compromised.
January 12, 2023
Android Users Appeal Dismissal Of Data Gathering Claims To 9th Circuit

SAN FRANCISCO — Two putative class plaintiffs recently filed a notice of appeal to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals after a California federal judge dismissed their privacy and unfair competition claims based on Google LLC’s alleged collection of user data without notice or permission via apps on the Android operating system (OS).
January 12, 2023
Data Breach Suit Against Benefits Firm Survives Under Bailment Theory

INDIANAPOLIS — A Michigan man’s negligence and breach of contract putative class claims over a data breach experienced by a benefits administration firm survived a motion to dismiss, with an Indiana federal judge concluding that the claims were sufficiently pleaded under a bailment theory as recognized by Indiana law.
January 12, 2023
Google Assistant Privacy Plaintiffs Can’t File New Class Certification Motion

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Citing multiple previous deadline and trial extensions, a California federal judge denied a motion by the plaintiffs in a consolidated privacy suit over Google Assistant (GA) to modify a class definition, finding that the plaintiffs’ motion was procedurally flawed and that they had not shown good cause for the motion, which would require further date extensions.