Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

On June 15, 2011, Senator Al Franken (D-MN) and Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) introduced the Location Privacy Protection Act of 2011 (the “Act”).  As we reported previously, Senator Franken is chairman of the newly-created Senate subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law.   In his press release, Senator Franken explained that the Act is designed to “close current loopholes in federal law” while giving customers the ability to learn about and prevent the collection of their location information.  The Act would apply only to non-government entities and would not impact law-enforcement activities.  At a May 10, 2011 hearing, both Google and Apple were questioned about their privacy practices, and Franken subsequently challenged them to require their application developers to adopt clear and understandable privacy policies.

On June 7, 2011, the Congress of the Republic of Peru passed the Personal Data Protection Law (Ley de Protección de Datos Personales, Proyecto de Ley 4079/2009-PE).  If signed into law, the bill would make Peru the newest member of the group of Latin American countries with EU-style omnibus privacy legislation.  The broad-ranging legislation would do the following, among other things:

On June 13, 2011, the Polish Data Protection Authority (Generalny Inspektor Ochrony Danych Osbowych or “GIODO”) hosted a conference in Warsaw on the use of binding corporate rules (“BCRs”) for international data transfers.  The conference was notable as the first on this topic in Poland, and was designed to introduce BCRs to a Polish audience and to promote their use.  The audience of approximately 70 people heard presentations by the Polish Inspector General for Data Protection, Wojciech Rafał Wiewiórowski, as well as representatives of the Belgian, French, Polish ...

On June 10, 2011, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (“EPIC”) filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, claiming that Facebook’s facial recognition and automated online image identification features harm consumers and constitute “unfair and deceptive acts and practices.” According to a post on The Facebook Blog, the Tag Suggestions feature matches uploaded “new photos to other photos [the user is] tagged in.”  Facebook then “[groups] similar photos together and, whenever possible, suggest[s] the name of the friend in the photos.”  On June 13, 2011, Congressman Edward Markey (D-MA) released a statement supporting the complaint and indicating that he will “continue to closely monitor this issue.”

On June 9, 2011, two plaintiffs filed a class action complaint against Google in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.  The complaint alleges that Google’s Android phone “engaged in illegal tracking and recording of [p]laintiffs’ movements and locations … without their knowledge or consent” and that Google violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and Florida statutory and common law by failing to inform Android users that their movements were being tracked and recorded through their phones.

On June 6, 2011, Hunton & Williams hosted a panel discussion on what organizations in the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands are doing to comply with the EU’s new cookie law.  The webinar, Consent for Cookies: Preparing for the EU Cookie Law, featured David Evans, Group Manager of Business and Industry of the UK Information Commissioner’s Office, and Hunton & Williams Brussels-based associates Olivier Proust, Dr. Jörg Hladjk and Martijn ten Bloemendal.  The panel was moderated by Bridget C. Treacy, partner in the London office of Hunton & Williams. 

On June 8, 2011, the Department of Commerce’s Internet Policy Task Force released a report entitled “Cybersecurity, Innovation and the Internet Economy.”  The report contains four broad policy recommendations: (1) the creation of a nationally recognized approach to minimize vulnerabilities for the Internet and networking services industry, (2) the development of incentives to combat cybersecurity threats, (3) increased cybersecurity education and research, and (4) the promotion of international cooperation to enable sharing of cybersecurity best practices.

On June 7, 2011, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced the “Personal Data Privacy and Security Act of 2011” (the “Act”), co-sponsored by Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Ben Cardin (D-MD).  This marks the fourth time Senator Leahy has introduced ambitious privacy legislation; in 2005, 2007 and 2009, similar bills failed to advance in the Senate.  In his press release, Senator Leahy stated that “many recent and troubling data breaches in the private sector and in our government are clear evidence that developing a comprehensive national strategy to protect data privacy and security is one of the most challenging and important issues facing our country.”

On May 27, 2011, a class action complaint was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California against Google and its recently acquired subsidiary, Slide, alleging that they violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) when they sent text messages to people’s cell phones without first obtaining their consent.

In a pair of lawsuits filed against Twitter, Inc. and American Express Centurion Bank, plaintiffs in a California federal court are seeking class-action status to assert claims that the defendants violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) by sending each plaintiff a single text message to confirm that they had processed the plaintiff’s request to opt-out of receiving further text messages.  This litigation highlights a potential vulnerability in the mobile marketing programs of companies that have not fully considered how telemarketing law should inform their implementation of the Mobile Marketing Association’s U.S. Consumer Best Practices (the “MMA’s Best Practices”), the authoritative compilation of policies enforced by the major wireless carriers.