A Judge in Boston sealed the court records after a brief hearing challenging the District Attorney’s subpoena to Twitter to get the identity of certain accounts. The American Civil Liberties Union challenged the subpoena and was very disappointed in the sealing of the records.
December 2011
Lawsuit – Are Twitter Followers a Protectable Customer List?
By Peter Vogel on
Phonedog.com sued a former employee for theft of their customer list when his 17,000 Twitter followers went to his new Twitter name after he quit. The New York Times reported that Noah Kravitz was a writer for Phonedog.com which "is a highly interactive mobile news and reviews resource that attracts…
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Court Orders Plaintiff to Share Facebook Login Info with Defendant
By Peter Vogel on
A court recently ordered an accident victim to provide her “Facebook username email and password” to a defendant in an auto accident lawsuit. After a chain-reaction auto accident Jessica Largent and her husband sued Jessica Reed Rosko for negligence that led to serious and permanent physical damages, and loss of consortium. (…
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Privacy Update – Carrier IQ Goes to Washington
By Peter Vogel on
Earlier this week Carrier IQ representatives met with officials at the FTC, FCC, and with the staff of a number of Senators. For more details about Carrier IQ please read my eCommerce Times column “Carrier IQ and the US’ Escalating Privacy Risk Level.”
The Washington Post reported that…
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Privacy Update at Google and Microsoft
By Peter Vogel on
Google has a team of 60 engineers, & Microsoft has 40 people, fully devoted to avoiding violation of privacy laws in the US and around the world. At a recent legal seminar executives from Google and Microsoft described how many resources they devote to privacy law compliance.
Google’s senior…
Google Disclaims Any Relation with Carrier IQ
By Peter Vogel on
Although Google’s Android smartphone operating system has been associated with Carrier IQ, Eric Schmidt (Google’s Executive Chairman) told an Internet freedom conference in the Dutch city of The Hague about Carrier IQ that "It’s a key-logger, and it actually does keep your keystrokes, and we certainly don’t work with…
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Carrier IQ Captures Cell and Internet Usage from Millions without Approval
By Peter Vogel on
A researcher recently found that Carrier IQ software is secretly installed on most modern Android, BlackBerry, and Nokia phones. Android developer’s Trevor Eckert’s 17 minute video demonstrates how that Carrier IQ software is loaded on his phone, cannot be disabled, tracks every keystroke, and sends the data to Carrier IQ. After receiving…
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Facebook Confesses Failure to Comply with Privacy Laws
By Peter Vogel on
After the US government filed charges that Facebook violated US privacy law, Facebook finally confessed that it failed to protect the privacy of its 800 million active users. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) welcomes the public to submit comments on the settlement through December 30, 2011.
Under the proposed…
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