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Mealey's Data Privacy

  • June 22, 2017

    Brooks Brothers Sued By Customer Class Following Data Breach

    LOS ANGELES — Brooks Brothers Group Inc. failed to take necessary measures to protect customers’ personal data, including credit card numbers, exposing those customers to identity theft, a California man claims in his June 9 class complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (Scott Ables, et al. v. Brooks Brothers Group, Inc., No. 17-4309, C.D. Calif.).

  • June 21, 2017

    Certiorari Denied In Dispute Over Privacy Of Commercial Driver Records

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In its June 19 order list, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition for certiorari by a group of commercial motor vehicle operators who alleged that the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) violated the Privacy Act by releasing driving records to prospective employers that were broader than those mandated in a federally established pre-employment screening program (Thomas O. Flock, et al. v. U.S. Department of Transportation, et al., No. 16-1151, U.S. Sup., 2017 U.S. LEXIS 3970).

  • June 21, 2017

    Reports: Hack Of GOP’s Marketing Firm Exposed Voting Data Of 200 Million

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a June 19 data security statement on its website, a Washington-based marketing firm confirmed that “a number of files within [its] online storage system were accessed without [its] knowledge.”

  • June 21, 2017

    California Lawmaker Introduces Bill To Protect Consumers’ Online Privacy

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California lawmaker on June 19 introduced a bill in the California State Assembly that would give consumers “choice, transparency and security in the treatment of their personal information when accessing the Internet” via an internet service provider (ISP).

  • June 20, 2017

    Facebook Seeks Renewed Discovery Stay In Biometrics Class Action

    SAN FRANCISCO —Facebook Inc. on June 19 moved to renew a motion to stay discovery in a putative class action alleging that the social network violated Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), which it originally filed in California federal court in February, arguing that a pending Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling could be dispositive of disputed jurisdictional questions and could moot the plaintiffs’ discovery requests (In re Facebook Biometric Information Privacy Litigation, No. 3:15-cv-03747, N.D. Calif.).

  • June 20, 2017

    Vizio, Class Debate ‘Tracked Data’ Definition In Smart TV Privacy Suit

    SANTA ANA, Calif. — In a pair of supplemental memoranda filed June 13 in California federal court, Vizio Inc. and a putative class of owners of its smart TVs argue over the proper definition of the term “tracked data” as it relates to the plaintiffs’ wiretap and privacy claims over Vizio’s alleged collection of viewer data, as well as to the scope of plaintiffs’ discovery requests (In Re:  Vizio, Inc., Consumer Privacy Litigation, No. 8:16-ml-02693, C.D. Calif.).

  • June 16, 2017

    Judge Denies Reconsideration Of Twice-Dismissed J. Crew Receipt Class Complaint

    NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge on June 14 denied without comment a plaintiff’s motion to reconsider a June 6 ruling that dismissed, for the second time, a putative class action alleging that J. Crew Group Inc. violated the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) by printing too many credit card digits on customers’ receipts (Ahmed Kamal v. J. Crew Group Inc., et al., No. 2:15-cv-00190, D. N.J., 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 91080).

  • June 13, 2017

    California Court Affirms Order Denying Fees In Health Privacy Case

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California appeals panel on June 9 affirmed that a trial court did not err when it refused to award fees to a patient, who alleged that a health care provider violated her privacy when it submitted her private health records as exhibits to a complaint in a debt collection action, because the patient could not show a probability of prevailing on her claims for violation of California's unfair competition law (UCL) and other causes of action (Kathleen Leonard v. Retailer's Credit Association of Grass Valley, Inc., No. C079880, Calif. App., 3rd Dist., 2017 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 3949).

  • June 5, 2017

    Magistrate Dismisses Yahoo’s Suit Seeking Coverage For TCPA Class Action Claims

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal magistrate on June 2 granted a commercial general liability insurer’s motion to dismiss Yahoo! Inc.’s breach of contract lawsuit seeking coverage for underlying class action allegations that it violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) by transmitting unsolicited text messages (Yahoo! Inc. v. National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, Pa., No. 17-00447, N.D. Calif., 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 85200).

  • June 5, 2017

    Supreme Court To Hear Dispute Over 4th Amendment Rights In Cell Location Records

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In its June 5 order list, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari to a man who argues that his rights under the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution were violated when the government obtained his historical cell site location information (CSLI) records via an order issued under the Stored Communications Act (SCA), rather than via a search warrant requiring a showing of probable cause (Timothy Ivory Carpenter v. United States of America, No. 16-402, U.S. Sup.).

  • May 31, 2017

    9th Circuit Affirms Ruling In Insurers’ Favor In Computer Spyware Coverage Dispute

    SEATTLE — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 26 affirmed a lower federal court’s ruling in favor of insurers in a dispute over coverage for claims that an insured used spy software to track rented laptops by secretly taking photographs using the laptop webcam (American Economy Insurance Co., et al. v. Hartford Fire Ins. Co. v. Aspen Way Enterprises Inc., et al., No. 16-35059, 9th Cir., 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 9268).

  • May 30, 2017

    Google Argues SCA Warrant Cannot Reach Emails Stored Outside United States

    SAN FRANCISCO — Contending that the Stored Communications Act (SCA) “does not clearly indicate that it applies extraterritorially,” Google Inc. in a May 26 reply brief asks a California federal court to apply de novo review to a magistrate’s order denying its motion to quash a warrant issued by the U.S. government seeking certain user emails stored in foreign servers (In the Matter of the Search of Content That is Stored at Premises Controlled by Google, No. 3:16-mc-80263, N.D. Calif.).

  • May 30, 2017

    Cab Driver Denied Review Of 4th Amendment GPS-Tracking Case By Supreme Court

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In its May 30 order list, the U.S. Supreme Court denied without comment a New York City taxi driver’s petition for certiorari that challenged the constitutionality of a city-run commission’s tracking of cabs via global positioning system (GPS) (Hassan El-Nahal v. David Yassky, et al., No. 16-830, U.S. Sup.).

  • May 26, 2017

    4th Circuit Finds Wikimedia Has Standing To Sue NSA Over Upstream Surveillance

    RICHMOND, Va. — Allegations of constitutional violations from the National Security Agency’s upstream surveillance activities, in a complaint filed by a group of “educational, legal, human rights, and media organizations,” are not speculative, a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel majority found May 23, reversing a trial court’s dismissal of the complaint for lack of standing under Article III of the Constitution (Wikimedia Foundation, et al. v. National Security Agency, et al., No. 15-2560, 4th Cir., 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 8957).

  • May 25, 2017

    Mass Transit Operator Accused Of Data Collection Via Smartphone App

    OAKLAND, Calif. — San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) was hit with a putative class complaint in California federal court May 22, with one of its mass transit passengers claiming that the organization’s smartphone application surreptitiously collects the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers associated with users’ phones, as well as their precise locations, in violation of state and federal law (Pamela Moreno v. San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District, et al., No. 4:17-cv-02911, N.D. Calif.).

  • May 24, 2017

    Target Settles Attorneys General Data Breach Investigation For $18.5 Million

    AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Attorney General (AG) Ken Paxton on May 23 announced that Target Corp. has agreed to an $18.5 million settlement of a suit in Texas state related to an investigation by a group of state AGs into the retailer’s massive 2013 data breach incident, with Paxton calling the settlement amount “the largest related to a data breach achieved by a multistate group” to date (In the Matter of State of Texas and Target, No. D-1-GN-17-002263, Texas Dist., Travis Co.).

  • May 24, 2017

    U.S. Government Says SCA Permits Subpoena Of Foreign-Stored Google Data

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal magistrate judge properly found that Google Inc. could be subpoenaed to provide foreign-stored user data under the Stored Communications Act (SCA), the U.S. government says in a May 19 brief opposing Google’s motion for de novo review of the magistrate’s ruling (In the Matter of the Search of Content That is Stored at Premises Controlled by Google, No. 3:16-mc-80263, N.D. Calif.).

  • May 23, 2017

    Yahoo Moves To Dismiss Data Breach Class Action For Lack Of Standing

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A consolidated class action over three announced data breach incidents fails for lack of standing because the plaintiffs have not alleged any resulting injury or damages, Yahoo Inc. says in a May 22 motion in California federal court seeking dismissal for lack of standing under Article III of the U.S. Constitution, U.S. Const. art. 3 (In re:  Yahoo! Inc. Customer Data Security Breach Litigation, No. 5:16-md-02752, N.D. Calif.).

  • May 23, 2017

    City To 7th Circuit: Smart Electric Meters Do Not Violate 4th Amendment

    CHICAGO — In a May 15 brief, the city of Naperville, Ill., argues that newly installed advanced, or “smart,” electric meters do not violate any privacy interests of city residents, asking the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to affirm a trial court’s finding that the meters do not present any violations of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (Naperville Smart Meter Awareness v. City of Naperville, No. 16-3766, 7th Cir.).

  • May 22, 2017

    Newspaper’s FOIA Suit Over Officers’ Mug Shots Denied Certiorari

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In its May 22 order list, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a newspaper’s petition for certiorari over privacy rights connected to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for booking photos, letting stand a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that found an FOIA exemption protecting certain “embarrassing” facts from disclosure (Detroit Free Press Inc. v. U.S. Department of Justice, No. 16-706, U.S. Sup., 2017 U.S. LEXIS 3246).