Law Students

Enforcement of Privacy Laws: A Freight Train is Coming

Posted on July 08, 2009
European Privacy Law And Social Networking : Privacy Law Blog. This post is a good indication why privacy on the internet is not only front and center as a national issue in the U.S. but is a concern internationally as...

It's Early in Web Years Redux

Posted on July 06, 2009
Details on Marc Andreessen?s New Fund (Plus Five Other Interesting Things He Said). Anyone heard of Marc of Netscape/Ning fame? He is one of the most grounded people in Tech. Why? He has this smart no BS, common sense, way...

SaaS Versus No SaaS: the song remains the same!

Posted on July 03, 2009
Authorize.net goes down. That is a serious outage, but non-SaaS enterprise apps experience similar outages, and to one degree or another, these things are to be expected. Sure everybody should be concerned with availability (and ?scalability?) when they select a...

FTC's Red Flag Rule for your online business?

Posted on July 01, 2009
The Red Flags Rule applies to ?financial institutions? and ?creditors.? The Rule requires you to conduct a periodic risk assessment to determine if you have ?covered accounts.? You need to implement a written program only if you have covered accounts...

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No longer business as usual at the FTC?

Posted on July 01, 2009
FTC Tells Sears That Consumer Disclosures Must be More Conspicuous : Privacy Law Blog. Here's yet another indication of how the rules of the road may be changing with respect to privacy & security. Companies that want to collect the...

Do I need to audit my website?

Posted on June 30, 2009
As an Internet Lawyer I get ask this question often. Think of a website audit as a kind of insurance policy. An audit helps protect you from the downside risk of doing business online. You have likely spent a great...

Data Breach: TJX Hit with $2.5M Fine

Posted on June 29, 2009
Data Security is Serious Business. TJX, the company that owns TJ Maxx and other subsidiaries, gets hit with a $2.5M fine for data breaches of 100 million consumer credit card records that occurred in 2005-2006. TJX did not admit any...

Data Security for Online Businesses?

Posted on June 28, 2009
As a Privacy Lawyer I get asked all the time what kind of processes do we need to support our privacy policy? A policy without the appropriate processes in place won't do an online business much good. Sure, small businesses...

We are the web? Web 3.0?

Posted on June 27, 2009
Lots of good "stuff" from Kevin Kelly of Wired. One thing that stands out is the concept of "transparency" and our identities on the Internet. Kevin mentions it in his talk but doesn't focus on it (i.e. he covers a...

Pushing the Search Envelope!

Posted on June 27, 2009
The Real Time Search Dilemma: Consciousness Versus Memory. This is a great post about emerging innovations in search technology and how, once again, it is the small and nimble that are driving the next wave. I believe that real time...

More stringent Internet privacy regulations imminent?

Posted on June 26, 2009
Web Privacy Efforts Targeted - WSJ.com. This article is probably an indication that industry groups are becoming increasingly alarmed that if they do not take steps to better protect consumer privacy on the Internet then the U.S. Congress will step...

Does HIPAA Preempt State Privacy Laws?

Posted on June 26, 2009
Minnesota Court of Appeals decision extends privacy claims to Internet - TwinCities.com. This will be an interesting case to watch. HIPAA, which does not currently allow an individual to bring a privacy suit (i.e. an individual's only recourse is to....

Privacy & Data Security

Posted on June 24, 2009
EU Advisory Group Proposes Tighter Privacy Regulation On Social Networks. It seems like everyone is jumping on the privacy & data security bandwagon. Here an EC group wants tougher regulations on Social Networking Sites (SNS). We are likely to end...

Is Privacy An Illusion?

Posted on June 22, 2009
Is Privacy An Illusion? Facebook ?Fans? Claim Hack Exposes Private Profile Information (Update). Online businesses need to "wake up and smell the coffee." These privacy issues are not going away. Privacy and security are some of the hottest online legal...

Caveat Employer?

Posted on June 20, 2009
Employers should look before they leap.. Employee non-compete clauses are not favored in CA and apparently an employer better have its ducks in a row before it brings a trade secret action without any evidence in that forum as well....

Should 47 USC 230 be an affirmative defense?

Posted on June 19, 2009
No. I agree with the analysis here. A defendant should be able to prevail on a 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss when the plaintiff clearly does not state a valid claim under 47 USC 230. To hold otherwise will allow unscrupulous...

Copyright: Second time is not the charm?

Posted on June 19, 2009
Record companies win $1.92 million in case against individual file sharer : Internet law - Evan Brown - Internet Cases. Be careful what you ask for, copyright infringement awards vary widely and this time it looks like this defendant lost...

HHS Privacy & Security Guidance

Posted on June 17, 2009
HealthIT.hhs.gov: Privacy & Security Framework. As discussed in the HIPAA Survival Guide it looks like HHS is taking additional steps to provide much needed guidance to small primary care providers for dealing with the "monstrous" regulatory scheme that is emerging...

Sign of the Times?

Posted on June 17, 2009
The Music Industry Will Need To Win More Than Just The Legal Arguments In Capital v. Thomas : Owners, Borrowers & Thieves 2.0. Sweden's Pirate Party gets a seat in the European Parliament as a result of Sweden's liberal view...

Red Flags & eCommerce Websites?

Posted on June 15, 2009
Red Flags and Address Discrepancies FAQs : Privacy Law Blog. Good post here about the FTC "Red Flag" rules. Financial institutions are "covered entities" BUT what many eCommerce websites don't realize is that they are potentially covered entities as well...

HITECH Act: HIPAA Survival Guide (HSG) Online

Posted on June 13, 2009
I recently launched a website that has The HIPAA Survival Guide (HSG) viewable online. The HSG is a concise overview of the HIPAA Regulations in light of the new HITECH Act (part of President Obama's recent economic stimulus package.) I...

Privacy Online?

Posted on June 11, 2009
IP Osgoode - Intellectual Property Law . I help clients develop their website privacy policies. As an internet lawyer, I know how critical it is to have not only the appropriate language in place, but more importantly, to have the...

Changing Terms of Use Agreements?

Posted on June 10, 2009
Technology & Marketing Law Blog: Stop Saying "We Can Amend This Agreement Whenever We Want"!--Harris v. Blockbuster. One possible way to solve this problem, regarding unilateral modifications to a website terms of use contract, which for obvious reasons (as Eric...

Redundant Internet Connections

Posted on May 07, 2009
Rick Georges (aka The FutureLawyer) has a great post about the necessity for having redundant access to the Internet. When your Internet connection goes down your practice grinds to a halt. This is not something that you want to happen...

Complexity Is Chaos

Posted on April 28, 2009
Keep It Simple, Stupid. OK, that may be an overstatement, but when it comes to most apps that we use, it is almost always true. Why? Because there is only so much complexity that we can handle and we already...

Twitter Me Not!

Posted on April 25, 2009
OK, I confess I must be getting old (true) and turning into a Luddite. But unless you are essentially in the journalism business, whether mainstream or not, I still don't see the general purpose business use case for Twitter. Not...

A Mile in My Shoes?

Posted on April 14, 2009
That's the title of a wonderful blog I just ran across. It is not about technology or the law but more about things we often lose sight of while we focus on the constant stream of information that we process...

Small is the new big?

Posted on February 24, 2009
After well over 25 years I am re-reading Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered by E.F. Schumacher. It's clear to me that Schumacher predicted the current wall that we have hit. His basic thesis is that "you cannot...

Heathcare War: It is Game On!

Posted on February 17, 2009
The Health Care Blog: Fear and Loathing over the Stimulus Bill. The first thing to note is that obviously this fight is not about healthcare, electronic medical records, or any such thing. It is much more sinister than that. It...

Moving forward? Yes!

Posted on February 17, 2009
Healthcare & Technology: eClinical Nirvana?. Debbie makes some great points here and I just wanted to add that whatever the merits of the arguments regarding the specifics of the stimulus package, as it relates to healthcare, there is certain to...

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