Ever on the forefront of consumer privacy protection, California is again making news in the privacy world with the California Attorney General’s recent publication of “Privacy on the Go: Recommendations for the Mobile Ecosystem,” which includes privacy recommendations for app developers, app platform providers, mobile ad networks, makers of operating systems and mobile carriers. With this publication, California joins the FTC and the GSMA as entities that have published non-binding guidance with respect to mobile privacy (which we blogged about here and here, respectively).
California
New California Law Protects Employee Use of Social Media
By Anthony J. Oncidi on
California Governor Jerry Brown has signed a new law protecting employee use of social media by prohibiting an employer from requiring or requesting an employee or applicant for employment to disclose a username or password for the purpose of accessing the employee’s personal social media.
California District Court Dismisses Privacy Class Action Lawsuit Against LinkedIn
By Amy Crafts on
A California District Court has dismissed with prejudice a class action lawsuit filed against LinkedIn on behalf of its registered users, finding the allegations too speculative to sustain a lawsuit. An earlier Complaint filed by one of the representative Plaintiffs was dismissed by the Court without prejudice, allowing the Plaintiff to amend the Complaint and bring the lawsuit again. In this recent decision, the Court dismissed all of the claims asserted in the Amended Complaint with prejudice, and without leave to amend either because the claims were legally defective or because the Plaintiff failed to cure deficiencies raised in LinkedIn’s motion to dismiss the original Complaint or raised in the Court’s order dismissing the original Complaint.
California Attorney General Creates a New Privacy Protection Unit
By Charley Lozada on
California’s Attorney General Kamala Harris announced last week the creation of a new Privacy Enforcement and Protection Unit, including six prosecutors, in the state’s Department of Justice. This new unit intends to protect consumer and individual privacy through prosecution of state and federal privacy laws.
Court Shines Light on California Data-Sharing Law: Proskauer Litigators Obtain Dismissal
By Kristen J. Mathews on
On July 3, 2012, Orange County Superior Court Judge Nancy Wieben Stock issued a ruling dismissing a California “Shine the Light” consumer protection law case without leave to amend, making it the first “Shine the Light” case to come to a final decision in a trial court. Judge Stock dismissed the case against XO Group Inc. by filing a ruling sustaining demurrers to both of the plaintiff’s two causes of action in the initial Complaint without leave to amend. The ruling holds that, based on the facts that the plaintiff admitted in her Complaint and that her attorney confirmed at oral argument, there is no possibility of showing that XO Group violated the Shine the Light law.
Light, (Camera), Class Action! After Seven Years of Dormancy Since Inception, Businesses See Class Action Lawsuits for Alleged Violations of California’s “Shine the Light” Act
Posted on
There have been a number of class action lawsuits recently filed in California state courts against businesses for allegedly violating California’s Shine the Light privacy law.
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Veto, Veto, Pass! New Governor Means New Breach Notification Law in California
By Proskauer Rose on
On Wednesday, August 31, 2011, California became the third state this year to amend its existing security breach notification law when Governor Jerry Brown signed into law Senate Bill 24 (“SB 24”). SB 24’s specific changes, while far from sweeping, include the addition of content requirements for notice letters to individuals and a requirement to send a sample letter to the state’s attorney general if more than 500 people are affected by a breach. SB 24 won’t add much to most nationwide breach response plans, but will up the ante for those doing business primarily (or exclusively) in California.
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90210 Gets Personal: California Supreme Court Rules that ZIP Codes are “Personal Identification Information”
By Proskauer Rose on
Yesterday, the California Supreme Court held that ZIP codes are “personal identification information” within the meaning of the state’s Song Beverly Credit Card Act. The court’s decision in Pineda v. Williams-Sonoma Stores, Inc., No. S178241 slip op. (Cal. Feb. 10, 2011), casts a dark cloud over the established retail practice of asking for ZIP codes when customers make brick-and-mortar purchases using a credit card and essentially reverses the Court of Appeal’s decision in Party City Corp. v. Superior Court, 169 Cal. App. 4th 497 (2008). In addition to some heated debate, the Pineda decision is likely to generate a healthy number of lawsuits against California retailers.
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