On September 11th, many attorneys with offices in downtown Manhattan were hit with a dose of reality about managing their practices. For some, it was a hard lesson about what can happen if you forget to backup your computer data, client contacts, and practice management information. Yet the fact remains that backing up data is a lot like talking with your dentist about flossing: it's something that you probably hate doing.
In a recent memorandum to heads of federal executive departments and agencies, Attorney General Eric Holder, Jr. has followed President Obama's earlier lead in instructing that the Freedom of Information Act be administered with the clear presumption of openness.
Some people believe that teenagers are reckless in protecting their private information on the Internet. Others are of the belief that teens are Net-savvy and are at least as smart as adults when it comes to safeguarding themselves in Cyberspace. So, what is the truth?
In the not too distant past industrial espionage consisted of photocopying and carting out files and identity theft, a rare crime until recent years, happened when someone lost his or her wallet to a pick pocket. The computer and the Internet have dramatically changed the playing field.. Now, customer lists, marketing and strategic plans and financial information can be passed to the competition with a simple click of the mouse, and a high school hacker can break into computers that store a wealth of personal information.
A decade ago, long before the Internet was a robust commercial medium, I started writing about online privacy issues. At the time, legal colleagues told me that while the issues were interesting from academic standpoint, they had no real world application. I explained that there would come a time when good privacy meant good business, and bad privacy meant horrible business. That time has arrived.
The amount of data that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) retain regarding their users will increase if a new bill in the House of Representatives becomes law. That bill, coupled with a bill before the Senate that proposes high standards for the protection of sensitive personal electronic information, could significantly raise costs for ISPs and consumers, and result in more data insecurity, not less.
An employee recently argued that he was improperly terminated based on his employer's Google search relating to his prior work background. Should such an argument stick? Well, it did not in this particular case, Mullins v. Department of Commerce, just decided on a non-precedential basis by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Netizens spend more and more time living their lives in online virtual worlds these days. Participants pursue their virtual lives through avatars, the visual representations of people in virtual worlds. While most virtual world interactions remain virtual, taking place entirely in fictitious realms, virtual disputes are increasingly landing in real courts right here on terra firma.
Users of Comcast's high-speed Internet service cannot sue the company for allegedly violating a law that protects the privacy of cable television customers, a federal appeals court has ruled.
A perennial New York political candidate recently lost a lawsuit brought against two websites alleging that they interfered with his "Master Election Plan." William Murawski claimed that Ask.com and Yahoo! had defamed him and violated his right to free speech through their actions, but a judge for the District Court for the Southern District of New York thought otherwise.