Business Law

Harvard University Search of Deans’ E-mail a ‘Breach of Trust’ or Cyberbullying?

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Tomorrow I will be boarding a red-eye flight to Boston to speak at prestigious Harvard University on the topic of cyber-bullying.  The term cyber-bullying can be defined as using any form of electronic communications to harass, torture, threaten, or humiliate another person.  In an unrelated, but ironic, headline I read in this mornings The New York […]

Business Law

Newly Appointed FTC Chair Says She will Focus on COPPA, Regulating Mobile Apps, and Internet Privacy

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Newly appointed Federal Trade Commission Chair Ms. Edith Ramirez indicated today in a Q&A discussion that the priorities for the FTC under her watch will be enforcement of the COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) law; regulating the mobile application world, due to its tremendous footprint amongst the American consumer; and a new initiative centered […]

Business Law

State of WA Legislature Looks to Protect Employees from Disclosing Social Media Passwords to Employers

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A group of Washington State Senator’s are sponsoring a proposed state law that would prohibit businesses from requiring potential and current employees disclose the passwords of their social media sites.  Under proposed Senate Bill 5211, businesses would be prohibited “as a condition of employment or continued employment, from requiring an employee or prospective employee to […]

Business Law

Federal Trade Commission ‘Alarmed’ Over App Developers Progess for Protecting Children’s Privacy

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The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) recently released a staff report entitled, Mobile Apps for Kids: Disclosures Still Not Making the Grade, where the regulatory agency cites a lack of progress in the Mobile App industry for failing to adequately inform parents and guardians about how their child-derived information is collected, shared, and accessed.  FTC Chairman, Mr. Jon Leibowitz, stated […]

Business Law

A Simpler Way for Public to Understand Facebook Copyright Hoax – K.I.S.S.

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Sunday after the Thanksgiving Holiday, I was perusing through my Facebook account, and noticed a friend had posted something on her Wall regarding copyrighted material.  Early the next day, I received a phone call/e-mail from another friend asking me what I thought about the Facebook copyright notice, and whether he should copy/paste it to his Wall.  After […]

Business Law

‘Suppliers’ Data Governance Practices Greatest Threat to U.S. Government’s Top IT Provider

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The U.S. government’s top information technology provider, Lockheed Martin, Corp., cited on Monday the dramatic increase in cyber-attacks against its IT infrastructure.  A majority of the “advanced persistent threats” (APTs) were either generated from organized groups or state-sponsored actors, but Lockheed failed to name any specific countries or groups.  According to Lockheed, the cyber-attacks are targeting the defense […]

Business Law

States/Feds Begin to Consider Legislation Making Disclosure of Employee/Student ‘Social Media Information’ Illegal

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“An academic institution shall not request or require that a student or applicant disclose any password or other related account information in order to gain access to the student’s or applicant’s social networking site profile or account by way of an electronic communication device.”  In July, 2012, the governor of Delaware signed a legislative bill […]

Business Law

How the Apple-Samsung $1Billion Verdict Complicates Intellectual Property Law

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Critics of patent federal legislation and court rulings have long-held that in recent years, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has been too lenient in how it awards patents applications.  Now, in the wake of last Friday’s $1 billion Apple v. Samsung jury verdict, that laissez-faire application system may be headed for its inevitable implosion.  The most high-profile […]