Tag Archives: Privacy Law

Bad actors are after your data.  They want to turn your data into money any way that they can.  That may involve using your data to steal your online banking passwords and account numbers, or may involve stealing personal and contact data to make a phishing attack more convincing and effective.  Why?  So that you […]

Recent massive data breaches and notorious instances of misuse of data lit fires under privacy advocates, particularly in Europe and California. In our April, 2018 newsletter, we told you about the European Union’s sweeping new privacy program known as the ‘General Data Protection Regulation’ (GDPR), effective May 25, 2018.  The GDPR changes the landscape for […]

If you thought reading privacy policies was a was a waste of time you were right. The Carnegie Mellon Institute calculated that it would take 10 minutes to read the privacy policies of the 75 most popular websites at the standard reading rate of 250 words per minute. The medium length of privacy policies from […]

If you use or develop online software or smartphone “apps” then you need to know about CalOPPA.  No, that’s not some form of steam-driven musical device from an old-time carousel. It’s the California Online Privacy Protection Act, and it has very real consequences for any company that does business online. This month, the State of California […]

The 1966 landmark Supreme Court case of Miranda v. Arizona gave us that famous TV cop phrase, “You have the right to remain silent…” This warning, called the Miranda Warning after the name of the criminal defendant in the case, is so common that many citizens can almost repeat it by heart. The holding of […]

Readers of this newsletter will recall that trademark rights in the United States are established by use, not by registration. There are benefits to registration, of course, but rights arise by the actual use of a mark in commerce in conjunction with a product or service. Often, the assertion of a trademark use is indicated […]

Do you have a Facebook Account?  Do you realize that every time you click the “Like” button for a product, service or website,  Facebook may distribute a paid advertisement (“a sponsored story”) using your name to all of your “Friends” suggesting that you are recommending the product or service?  While Facebook is described in the […]

Most of us use our cell phones for business and personal use. For instance, in the car returning from a family Thanksgiving celebration, my wife read her business e-mail, checked the weather, referred to a map for our location, and browsed for Black Friday sales. We all assume such phone activities are relatively private, but […]

Have you ever wondered about the privacy of your web-based e-mail communications, e.g., Hotmail, Yahoo, or Gmail, as you carry out your personal business on your company-owned computer?  A March 2010 decision by the Supreme Court of New Jersey sheds some light on the subject.  In Stengart vs. Loving Care Agency, Inc.,  Marina Stengart used […]