The FTC staff recently sent two warning letters to Gator Group Co., Ltd., and Tinitell, Inc., which marketed mobile apps directed to children and appear to be violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The FTC warning letters were also sent to the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, which make the apps available to consumers.
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Mobile phones are ubiquitous extensions of our personal and professional lives and few think deeply about the tangled webs of software and hardware providers that formulate components to mobile phone fabricators. However, the Federal Trade Commission’s recent settlement with BLU Products represents an important reminder of the importance of appropriate vendor oversight in all phases of the manufacturing and sales process.
The effective use of data analytics is quickly changing the legal landscape and the practice of law for the better. This is a fast-changing area where today’s “use cases” will be quickly superseded by new and more powerful uses of these technologies. This post discusses key areas where in-house counsel may consider the use of data analytics either as a solely in-house measure or in connection with engagements with outside counsel.
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Assistant Attorney General of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Antitrust Division, Makan Delrahim recently spoke at the University of Chicago’s Antitrust and Competition Conference and discussed how U.S. antitrust law should treat “big data.” According to Delrahim, antitrust law is “flexible enough to address competition issues from emerging platforms,” including large tech companies like Google and Facebook that possess significant market share within their lines of business and simultaneously aggregate vast sums of personal data from consumers.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s ruling in Aqua Star (USA) Corp., vs Travelers Casualty and Surety Company of America. The case involved fraudulent emails purporting to be from the insured’s suppliers directing that the insured direct its payments to a new account purportedly opened by that supplier. Based on that fraudulent communication, the insured transferred $713,890 due its supplier to the fraudulent “new account.”
On March 23, 2018, Congress passed the “Clarifying Overseas Use of Data Act,” also known as the “CLOUD Act” (H.R. 4943, S. 2383), a new U.S. law that will have a dramatic effect on the United State government’s control over and access to data stored overseas. The CLOUD Act was introduced to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives on February 6, 2018, as part of a $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill. The bill passed both houses of Congress on March 23, 2018, and was signed into law by the President the next day.
Continue reading “U.S. Congress Approves CLOUD Act for Data Stored Overseas”
