Hogan Lovells partner Daniel Brenner speculates on the impact of the July 2011 Memorandum of Understanding between major U.S. ISPs and content owners.
Monthly Archives: November 2011
FTC Announces Settlement with Facebook
The Federal Trade Commission this afternoon announced a proposed consent decree with the prominent social network Facebook, settling allegations that Facebook violated Section 5 of the FTC Act by failing to live up to representations made to consumers regarding its privacy practices. Among other remedial measures, the FTC required Facebook to obtain independent privacy compliance audits for the next 20 years. Along with the FTC’s recent consent decrees with Google and Twitter, the FTC now effectively has regulatory oversight over the privacy and data security practices of the three most prominent social networking companies in the United States.
Live Blogging from the IAPP Privacy Congress in Paris
Chris Wolf, Barbara Bennett, Stefan Schuppert, Winston Maxwell and Lionel De Souza are participating in the IAPP Privacy Congress in Paris. This entry contains a live blog from the opening session which featured the Chair of the Article 29 Working Party and EU Vice President Viviane Reding.
Geolocation services: a five country survey
Hogan Lovells privacy attorneys examine the challenges of deploying geolocation services in five jurisdictions, including France, Spain, Germany, the United States and Hong Kong.
Full Length Video of Cloud Computing and Privacy Session Available Through This Entry
Hogan Lovells Privacy and Information Management practice leader Chris Wolf recenrtly moderated a panel on cloud computing in Washington, DC featuring government and industry leaders. This blog entry points to a report containing a full-length video of the session.
FTC Extends Deadline for COPPA Comments from Nov. 28 to Dec. 23
The FTC today extended the deadline for public comments to its proposed revisions to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule, which regulates the collection of personal information from children under 13, from November 28 to December 23.
Cross-Border Data Flows Free from Overly Restrictive Rules Touted by Industry and Government
This blog entry reports on an industry push against “digital protectionism” that can result from overly-restrictive privacy rules, on a speech by a senior US government official promoting enforceable industry codes of conduct, and the APEC cross-border recognition agreement.
Reflections from Brussels on the Mexico City DPA Conference
Elisabethann Wright, a Partner in our Brussels Office, presented at the 33d International Congress of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners in Mexico City last week. In this entry, she shares some reflections from her participation.
Complimentary 11/15/11 Lunchtime Event on Cloud Computing Hosted by Microsoft Moderated by Hogan Lovells Privacy Leader
Hogan Lovells Privacy and Information Management practice leader Chris Wolf will moderate a complimentary lunchtime panel on cloud computing on Tuesday, November 15th in Washington, DC featuring government and industry leaders. Readers of the Hogan Lovells Chronicle of Data Protection are invited to attend and participate. For a place at the event, please send an e-mail to dcrsvp@microsoft.com
FTC Announces First Flash Cookie Enforcement and Settlement with Child Social Network
The Federal Trade Commission yesterday announced settlements with two online companies for deceptively collecting personal information from consumers, including its first enforcement action against the use of “Flash cookies” and an enforcement action against a social network that collected children’s information without parental consent. As a result, businesses whose websites (or vendors) utilize Flash cookies, HTML5, or ETags to track user browsing should reexamine their privacy disclosures.
FCC Proposes $2.96 Million Forfeiture for TCPA Violations
The Federal Communications Commission has proposed a $2.96 million forfeiture against Travel Club Marketing, Inc. for apparent violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and related FCC rules regarding the delivery of prerecorded messages, as well as its Caller ID rules. This enforcement action serves as a reminder to companies placing autodialed calls or delivering prerecorded messages to ensure that such calls and messages comply with federal and state laws. Otherwise, they risk not only class action litigation, but also potential regulatory enforcement fines that are imposed on a per-call basis.
Social Network Impersonator Fined by Spanish Data Protection Authority In New Exercise of Regulatory Authority
On October 20th, the Spanish Data Protection Authority, the Agencia Espanola de Protecccion de Datos (AEPD), announced an unprecedented decision against an individual who impersonated someone on a social networking site and thus engaged in identity theft. The AEPD fined the individual who had created a profile in a sexually-oriented social network, and chose not to proceed against the online host of the offending content.