Electronic Communications

Corporate Counsel published an article authored by Nolan Goldberg, Senior Counsel, Intellectual Property and Technology, concerning the recent decision compelling Microsoft to produce e-mails located on foreign servers. The article, entitled “Is the Flap Over Microsoft Emails in Ireland Overblown?”, provides a counter-point to critics who believe that Judge

In January 2011, David Cheng (Plaintiff) filed a lawsuit against his former co-worker and fellow radiologist, Laura Romo (Defendant), alleging a violation of the Stored Communications Act (SCA) and Massachusetts privacy law.  After the U.S District Court of Massachusetts denied Defendant’s motion for summary judgment on both counts, the case

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) published on its website a series of factsheets designed to educate consumers unfamiliar with their rights under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act’s (HIPAA) Privacy and Security Rules.  These four factsheets are described in detail

On May 28th, the Commission nationale de l’informatique et des libertés (“CNIL”), the French  authority responsible for data privacy, published guidance on breach notification law affecting electronic communications service providers.   The guidance was issued with reference to European Directive 2002/58/EC, the e-Privacy Directive, which imposes specific breach notification requirements on electronic communication service providers.

French legislator recently amended Article 34 of the Data Protection Act to reflect the EU e-Privacy Directive’s breach notification requirement.According to Article 34 of the French data protection law (as revised), the notification obligations are applicable if:

  • Personal data is processed;
  • By an electronic communications service provider;
  • During the course of its business of providing electronic communications services (e.g. telephone service or internet access)

In a recent decision, the Ninth Circuit held that “the ECPA unambiguously applies to foreign citizens.” In Suzlon Energy Ltd. v. Microsoft, Suzlon Energy demanded Microsoft to produce emails from the Hotmail email account of an Indian citizen imprisoned abroad. The district court held that the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (“ECPA”) prohibited Microsoft from producing the documents even though the individual was not a U.S. citizen. The Ninth Circuit affirmed.