By now, our readers are likely familiar with the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), the sweeping, European Union-wide legal and regulatory regime that provides enhanced protections for personal data. The GDPR, which goes in effect on May 25, 2018, is expected to reshape the digital data landscape in the EU and beyond. My colleague Catherine Muyl (from our Paris office) provided a helpful GDPR overview back in January,… More
Tag Archives: privacy
“A Gronking To Remember” Plaintiffs Lose Right Of Publicity Appeal
For those of you in desperate need of Christmas present ideas for a New England Patriots fan, you can rest assured that your ironic backup option – a copy of the romance novel, A Gronking to Remember – is still available for sale. Truth be told, the self-published volume was not in serious danger of becoming unavailable, but the recent Sixth Circuit opinion in Roe v.… More
Privacy or Property? Arizona Court Adopts Post-Mortem Right of Publicity In Intra-Family Online Dispute
The right of publicity, i.e., the right not to have others appropriate your name or image for commercial purposes, is an odd duck. It was described by Professor Prosser in 1960, and later in the Restatement of Torts, as of one of four species of common law privacy rights intended to remedy the emotional injury to one’s “seclusion” caused by breaches of privacy. By contrast, the Third Restatement of Unfair Competition in 1995,… More
Facebook Commits to Privacy After FTC Smackdown
Facebook reached a settlement with the FTC today regarding the FTC’s suit accusing Facebook of “unfair and deceptive” business practices concerning what some have described as the site’s alarmingly poor track record regarding user privacy. Our colleague Colin Zick over at our sister blog, Security, Privacy, and the Law, provides an overview of the settlement. Check it out!… More
Court Orders Identity of BitTorrent Users to be Revealed in Copyright Case
BitTorrent users now have even more reason to be concerned if they are targeted in “John Doe” lawsuits for copyright infringement. In a recent case, 38 BitTorrent users, known only by their IP addresses and identified as John Does, were sued as a group. Three of the John Does sought to quash the subpoenas issued to their ISPs seeking the names and contact information of the BitTorrent users. A Boston federal court judge denied the motions,… More