A federal judge in the Northern District of California delivered a blow to a potential class action lawsuit against Google over its ad auction practices. The lawsuit, which allegedly involved tens of millions of Google account holders, claimed Google’s practices in its real-time bidding (RTB) auctions violated users’ privacy rights. But U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers declined to certify the class of consumers, pointing to deficiencies in the plaintiffs’ proposed class definition.
Data Privacy Laws
Privacy Class Action Spotlight: Latest Wave of Wiretap Class Actions Continues Despite Dismissals as Plaintiffs Try New Approaches
By Danielle Brooks, Leslie Shanklin & Ryan P. Blaney on
- Over a hundred cases are pending from the wave of privacy class actions that commenced last year alleging violations of state wiretap statutes based on use of website session replay, chatbot and pixel technologies.
- Plaintiffs’ firms are continuing to file new cases based on chatbot and pixel tech despite an increasing number of dismissals while also trying new approaches focused on email marketing tech and identity graphing.
OIG Issues Final Information Blocking Enforcement Rule and Highlights the Potential for Referrals to the FTC and FCA Liability
By Ryan P. Blaney & Jonian Rafti on
On June 27, 2023, the Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) released its final rule (“Final Rule”) implementing penalties for information blocking.
The Final Rule codifies the prohibition on “information blocking” introduced by the 21st Century Cures Act (“Act”), which was…
Consumer Data Privacy Laws: What’s Happened and What Comes Next
By Michael Guggenheim on
Increasing oversight of tech companies, particularly in the realm of consumer privacy, has been a rare example of bipartisan agreement. Despite data privacy being a growing concern for consumers, however, there has been relatively little federal policymaking. To counteract this lack of action, some states have stepped in to fill…
FTC and OCR Unite to Safeguard Hospital and Telehealth Data from Online Tracking Threats
By Ryan P. Blaney & Matthew J. Westbrook on
On July 20, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the Office for Civil Rights of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (“OCR”) announced that they had sent a warning letter to about 130 hospital systems and telehealth providers, alerting them about the risks and concerns of using online tracking technologies, such as the Meta/Facebook pixel and Google Analytics, which can track users’ online activities.
Going Beyond HIPAA – Washington Health Privacy Law Enacted: Broad Reach, Amorphous Scope, Big Litigation Risk
By Jonathan Mollod & Ryan P. Blaney on
The Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) has long been described as the floor for health care privacy laws and that states and regulators are free to enact more restrictive health care privacy laws. Last week, Washington state became the first state in the nation to codify into law broad protections for consumer health data that go well beyond HIPAA.
SEC Revisits Regulation S-P After Twenty Years of Innovation to Information Technology
On March 15, 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) released its proposal to amend Regulation S-P: Privacy of Consumer Financial Information and Safeguarding Customer Information (the “Proposed Amendments”), while simultaneously issuing two additional cybersecurity-related rule proposals and re-opening the comment period for its previously proposed cybersecurity risk management…
2022 Trends in Privacy and Data Security Law
By Jonathan Mollod & Jeffrey Neuburger on
As the National Security Agency (NSA) noted in its 2022 cybersecurity yearly review, “[c]yberspace is dangerous.”
Reports of sophisticated cyberattacks and ransomware threats were prevalent in the past year. The government, manufacturers, and others further developed standards for securing digital infrastructure like 5G, cloud services, cryptography, internet protocols, and…