Articles Posted in Privacy

High Court Declines to Hear Planned Parenthood Cases Updated: Published by:

The US Supreme court will not hear two cases stemming from state efforts to prevent Planned Parenthood clinics from receiving funding under Medicaid. Justices Thomas, Gorsuch, and Alito voted to hear the cases, but Chief Justice Roberts and the newly-confirmed Justice Kavanaugh voted with the Court's liberal justices to turn…

Irish Report Indicates LinkedIn Violated Data Protection Rules Updated: Published by:

The Data Protection Commissioner of Ireland released a report last week that discussed an investigation into a complaint against the social media network LinkedIn, owned by Microsoft. In the investigation, the Data Protection Commission found that LinkedIn U.S. had collected the email addresses of 18 million people who were not…

Amazon’s Alexa May Provide Crucial Evidence in Murder Case Updated: Published by:

Last week, a New Hampshire judge ordered Amazon to turn over an Echo smart speaker’s recordings that may have captured key evidence in a double homicide that occurred last year in Farmington. Investigators believe that the recordings may provide information that could help convict the murderer. The question arises: how…

Transgender Florida High School Student Allowed to Use Men’s Restroom Updated: Published by:

A federal judge has struck down the policy of a high school in Ponte Vedra Beach, which had required an 18-year-old student to use a gender-neutral bathroom. The judge found that the policy was unjustified because the student did not threaten the safety or privacy of other students. Thus, the…

California Passes Consumer Privacy Protection Act Giving Consumers Additional Rights Updated: Published by:

Last Thursday California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA), granting California consumers the right to request that businesses disclose the categories and specific pieces of personal information that they collect about the consumer, the categories of sources from which that information is…

Third Circuit Issues Opinion in School Transgender-Bathroom Case Updated: Published by:

Last month, a three-judge Third Circuit panel announced just minutes after oral arguments that it would affirm a district court’s ruling in favor a school district policy that allowed transgender students to use bathroom and locker room facilities corresponding with their gender identity. This unusually quick decision was partly practical,…

NASA Faces Lawsuit Over Vial of Lunar Dust Updated: Published by:

When Laura Murray was 10 years old, she received a small glass vial containing light-gray dust from an old friend of her father’s: Neil Armstrong. The vial was paired with a note that said “To Laura Ann Murray — Best of Luck — Neil Armstrong Apollo 11.” Laura, who’s now…

Facebook Faces Yet Another Legal Battle: A Class Action Lawsuit Over Facial Recognition Updated: Published by:

The largest social media company in the world faces another legal battle. On Monday, April 16, 2018, US District Judge James Donato ruled in San Francisco federal court that a class action lawsuit could proceed with the allegation that Facebook illegally collected and stored its users biometric data without their…