Tag archives: Privacy

Think Before You App

Photo of Daniel Daniele (CA)By Daniel Daniele (CA) on Posted in Privacy

Self-isolation, stay-at-home orders, and lockdowns have changed the way we live during the COVID-19 pandemic. As many of us work remotely, limit face-to-face interactions, and stay indoors, we are reaching for our smartphones more and increasing our mobile app use. Mobile app usage increased by 40% year-over-year in the second quarter of 2020, hitting an all-time high of over 200 billion hours of app usage in April. The average user is spending 4 hours and 20 minutes per day on their smartphones, frequently on social media.

Apps for games, entertainment, photo and video sharing, business, health and fitness, shopping, digital … Continue Reading

Testing and trade secrets: Marketing may eliminate rights

Photo of Sean Patrick McGinley (US)By Sean Patrick McGinley (US) on Posted in Privacy

Sharing information and reaching consumers is even easier today thanks to the prevalence of social media. However, sharing certain information with the public can result in the removal of trade secret protections.

According to a recent federal court decision, posting photographs of testing equipment and sharing information about testing procedures are two examples of where protection for potential trade secrets was lost. (S&G Labs Hawaii v. Graves).

Before sharing company information on social media to attract more customers, always consider the need to protect that information from competitor access.

Trade secrets and their application to advertising

Trade secrets … Continue Reading

Bill C-11: Canada proposes new data privacy legislation

Photo of Colin Hyslop (CA)By Colin Hyslop (CA) on Posted in Privacy

On November 17, 2020, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, Navdeep Bains, tabled proposed legislation in Parliament that aims to overhaul Canada’s data privacy law. Bill C-11, entitled An Act to enact the Consumer Privacy Protection Act and the Personal Information and Data Protection Tribunal Act and to make consequential and related amendments to other Act, will create new data privacy obligations and new enforcement mechanisms for these obligations if it becomes law.… Continue Reading

COVID tracing & AI: physically distant, socially together

Photo of Daniel Daniele (CA)By Daniel Daniele (CA) on Posted in Privacy

As the second wave of COVID-19 spreads across Canada, the use of COVID-19 tracing apps is on the rise. For example, the Government of Canada released COVID Alert – an app using Bluetooth technology to help people report positive diagnoses, and control the spread of the virus. The success of the app depends on a high quantity of users, but concerns over privacy and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in analyzing the data may hinder that objective.… Continue Reading

Social media, photos, privacy, and conversion

Photo of Susan Ross (US)By Susan Ross (US) on Posted in General

There seem to be a lot of questions lately about the use of photographs on social media, so a recent federal court case may be of interest in raising some risks you may not have contemplated. The case involves some photos that professional models had posted to their social media pages, which they alleged had been copied and altered by a nightclub to make it appear that they worked at or endorsed the nightclub. (Moreland v. Beso Lounge & Restaurant LLC, case no. 3:19-cv-00958 (VLB) (D. Conn. Sept. 4, 2020) (2020 WL 5302312).)… Continue Reading

California aims to keep children off social media

Photo of Phil Di Tullio (US)By Phil Di Tullio (US) on Posted in COPPA, Privacy

In September 2020, the California legislature sent a bill to the Governor’s desk which would bar a social media company from opening an account for anyone it “actually knows” is under the age of 13, absent parental consent. The bill, passed with bipartisan support within the legislature, aims to bring social media companies in line with existing federal and California law requiring parental consent before a minor’s personal information is obtained online or sold. (The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) prohibits companies from selling a minor’s personal information without obtaining the authorization of the consumer’s parent or guardian if the … Continue Reading

Court rules that reasonable expectation of privacy exists in social media users’ internet browsing data

Photo of Phil Di Tullio (US)By Phil Di Tullio (US) on Posted in Privacy

Social media users may have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their internet browsing data, according to a recent decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Court.

Users of a social media platform brought a class action against its owner, alleging that the company tracked users’ browsing histories when they visited third-party websites, and then compiled those browsing histories into personal profiles which were sold to advertisers to generate revenue. The company did not dispute that it engaged in these tracking practices even after its users had logged out of the site. Plaintiffs complaint alleged, … Continue Reading

Wearing out privacy: wearable technology revolutionizing social media marketing

Photo of Daniel Daniele (CA)By Daniel Daniele (CA) on Posted in Privacy

Social media has made sharing personal and professional updates easy and, in most cases, highly targeted. Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, as well as the proliferation of new social media platforms have created a window into the lives of those who are active on these platforms. One of the biggest tensions created by social media is that, while businesses are constantly looking for metrics and strategies that will enable them to advertise their content to the user at the most opportune moment, individuals seek to cut down on their social media consumption. The rise of wearable technology (e.g. smartwatches or technology-embedded … Continue Reading

Ninth Circuit severs the “debt collection” exemption of the TCPA in dispute over social media text messages

Photo of Max Kellogg (US)By Max Kellogg (US) on Posted in Privacy

On June 13, 2019, the 9th Circuit handed down a decision in Duguid v. Facebook, Inc., 926 F.3d 1146 (9th Cir. 2019), which has at least partially brought into question the future of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”).

Around January 2014 Facebook started sending Noah Duguid sporadic text messages, alerting Duguid that an unrecognized browser was attempting to access his Facebook account. The messages followed a template akin to “Your Facebook account was accessed [by/from] <browser> at <time>. Log in for more info.” While this type of message may be alarming to the everyday Facebook user believing … Continue Reading

Doxing the age of social media

Photo of Daniel Daniele (CA)By Daniel Daniele (CA) on Posted in Privacy

Online privacy is a fantasy for many people. We voluntarily post information about every aspect of our lives. Information we do not publicize can often be extracted from website data or our personal accounts (email, social media, etc.). Our privacy and sensitive information is often in jeopardy. What happens when our private and sensitive information is disseminated online to millions of people against our will? This is known as doxing.… Continue Reading

Online security breaches — A growing threat in the digital era

Photo of Daniel Daniele (CA)By Daniel Daniele (CA) on Posted in Security

One of the emerging threats in the digital era is online security breaches. Today, millions of people use social media platforms to post information about their lives online. In doing so, they often provide sensitive personal information to various platforms, including credit card information, personal preferences, and other information that is otherwise protected by various privacy legislation. A security breach from an unknown hacker can lead to millions of users’ accounts being compromised. In addition, many users now use one social media platform to host a variety of applications. In those circumstances, a security breach of the main platform could … Continue Reading

Exposed! Woman awarded $6.4m for explicit revenge photos including copyright breach

Photo of Kerri Gevers (SG)By Kerri Gevers (SG) on Posted in Copyright

Four years after a Californian woman sued her ex-boyfriend for posting sexually explicit photographs and videos of her online, she was awarded USD $6.4 million in one the largest judgments of its kind. According to the New York Times, although the victim was successful, this case highlights the complexities of the law in this area which (like many other areas of law) lags behind technology.… Continue Reading

LinkedIn’s Updated Terms of Service Aim to Increase Profile Visibility and Sharing

Photo of Chandler Stephens (US)By Chandler Stephens (US) on Posted in Privacy

In 2017, LinkedIn made several updates to its Terms of Service – comprised of its Privacy Policy and User Agreement – to provide for new LinkedIn features and give users some choices over how their information is used.

In general, the changes revolve around new features that are intended to increase profile visibility and make it easier for users to share and connect with each other. LinkedIn permits users to opt in or out of these features to accommodate individual privacy preferences.… Continue Reading

Who is responsible for fan sites?

Photo of Sven Jacobs (DE)By Sven Jacobs (DE) on Posted in Privacy

The Advocate General to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) Yves Bot caused a sensation with his unexpected opinion concerning the admissibility of social media fanpages under EU data protection law. According to the opinion of Mr. Bot, the operator of a social media fanpage is “jointly responsible for the processing and collection of personal data together with” the social media operator.

Further, the operator of a fanpage of a social network is deemed to be a controller “with regard to the phase of processing of personal data consisting in the collection of data on the persons … Continue Reading

Entering a new age of virtual reality

Photo of Daniel Daniele (CA)By Daniel Daniele (CA) on Posted in Privacy

Experiencing virtual reality

The line between the digital world and the physical world is becoming increasingly blurred as we enter an era of virtual reality (VR).  VR can be defined as a “computer technology that uses virtual reality headsets…to generate realistic images, sounds and other sensations that simulate a user’s physical presence in a virtual or imaginary environment.”  In other words, VR uses computers to create a virtual environment that feels as close to reality as possible.

VR will have a significant impact on social media. Instead of communicating through texts, pictures and videos, VR technology will allow … Continue Reading

Use of WhatsApp violating data privacy laws without the consent of every address book contact?

Photo of Sven Jacobs (DE)By Sven Jacobs (DE) on Posted in Privacy

The use of WhatsApp without the declaration of consent from every person in the user’s address book directory is deemed to be inadmissible in a recent decision by the family law department of a German lower federal court (AG Bad Hersfeld, 15.05.2017 – F 120/17 EASO).

The court held that the mother of an 11-year-old boy had to ensure and constantly control that all of her son’s phone contacts had given their consent to the transfer of their contact data to WhatsApp.… Continue Reading

Me, Myself & ‘AI’

Photo of Daniel Daniele (CA)By Daniel Daniele (CA) on Posted in Copyright, Patent, Privacy

Human interactions with technology

In the past few years, the use of social media has increased rapidly. A key feature of social media platforms and social media apps is the ability to interact with other people in ways that were not thought possible in previous generations.  With the click of a button, someone from the other side of the world can appear on a screen in front of you.

Technology and social media have not just given rise to platforms that facilitate human-to-human interaction: recently, advancements in technology have led to a rise in a new type of social relationship: … Continue Reading

Data processing and storage: Protection of Personal Information (POPI) and your social media account

Photo of Lovanya MoodleyBy Lovanya Moodley on Posted in Privacy

The South African Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPI), which protects the processing of personal information by public and private bodies, is much like similar UK and EU legislation. It was signed into law in November 2013 but is not in full effect yet. Once the Act is made effective, companies will be given a year’s grace to comply with the Act, unless this period is extended as allowed by the Act.… Continue Reading

Who is Fact Checking the Fact Checkers?

Photo of Daniel Daniele (CA)By Daniel Daniele (CA) on Posted in Defamation, Privacy

With the proliferation of so-called “fake news”, companies are starting to rely on third party organizations to perform a “fact checking” function in order to distinguish between legitimate news and fake news. The fake news epidemic gained traction in the recent US presidential election.  We have previously written about the fake news problem, as well as the UK Government’s plan to tackle the issue.

While fake news began as false information disguised as legitimate news sources, the problem with fake news and the question as to what constitutes fake news is becoming more complicated and nuanced. … Continue Reading

The edit button: can the past be erased?

Photo of Daniel Daniele (CA)By Daniel Daniele (CA) on Posted in Defamation, Privacy

Social media users have a new demand for 2017 – they want the ability to edit their public messages. Spelling mistakes, missing words and misplaced pronouns can have embarrassing, unintended and sometimes dangerous consequences.  The ability to edit one’s message is an attractive feature.  This request has led some users on the social media platform Twitter to ask its CEO when an edit function would be introduced.… Continue Reading

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