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Archive for April, 2012

Apr 24

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EPIC Wants FCC’s Full Report on Google Street View

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), an internet privacy advocacy group, filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on Wednesday with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for the full release of its report on the investigation of Google Street View. Google Street View was under investigation for the collection and storage of data from unencrypted wireless networks. The investigation started when it was determined that Google Street View collected data about personal online usage from unsecured Wi-Fi networks for four years while intending to simply collect the locations of Wi-Fi access points. Read more

Apr 20

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Federal Appeals Court Says Taking Source Code Not a Federal Crime

On Wednesday, in another big setback for companies fighting computer-related fraud, the 2nd U.S. Circuit  Court of Appeals in New York threw out the conviction of a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. computer programmer. After a December 2010 conviction for stealing a secret high-frequency trading computer code from Goldman Sachs,  Sergey Aleynikov served 11 months of an eight-year prison term. In the decision released Wednesday, the 2nd Circuit Court cited that the taking of source code was not a crime under a 1996 law that makes it illegal to steal trade secrets as the code did not qualify as stolen goods. In the decision, Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs wrote for the unanimous three judge panel: “We decline to stretch or update statutory words of plain and ordinary meaning in order to better accommodate the digital age.” Read more

Apr 19

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NFL Player’s Tweets Teach a Lesson in Contract Performance

By now we all know at least one friend who has tweeted or posted something to Facebook without considering whether it will offend people.  Ok… so, by “friend,” I mean we’ve all done it. Hopefully, your gaffe caused—at most—a few snickers, face-palms, or awkward conversations.  For Steelers’ running back Rashad Mendenhall, his emotional tweet caused him to lose a multimillion dollar endorsement deal.  Read more

Apr 11

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Congress to Consider Radically Different Approaches in Cybersecurity Standoff

The House of Representatives has plans to focus on cybersecurity in the coming weeks and, as a result, is slated to consider at least two bills that have gained substantial traction out of committee.  These bills carve out exceptions to privacy laws to allow private companies to disclose “cyber threat intelligence” to the government.  The need for such a law is proclaimed by political officials and private entities alike. Current privacy laws—such as the Electronic Communications Privacy Act or the Privacy Act—provide an all-important shield against disclosure of private information but often have the consequence of hamstringing efforts to identify and prevent cyber threats.  Read more

Apr 3

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Is Your Website COPPA-Compliant?

On March 27th, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it has settled its complaint that RockYou, Inc., an online gaming site, allowed hackers to access the personal information of 32 million users while it touted its security features and that it violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Rule when it collected information from approximately 179,000 children. The settlement requires RockYou to stop its deceptive claims about privacy and data security, implement a data security program, stop all future violations of COPPA, and pay a civil penalty of $250,000. Read more

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