Lucas Ropek reports: FinFisher is no more. Long accused of helping authoritarian governments to spy on political dissidents and activists, the creepy surveillance company has abruptly shut down amidst an ongoing investigation into its business dealings. On Monday, Bloomberg reported that the Munich-based spyware firm had shuttered its offices after quietly filing for insolvency this past February. Read more…
Category: Business
Lawsuit Highlights How Little Control Brokers Have Over Location Data
The case suggests this loosely regulated industry can’t deliver on its promises of privacy By: Jon Keegan and Alfred Ng The controversial location data broker X‑Mode boasts about collecting information on the whereabouts of more than 50 million people that it sells for hundreds of thousands of dollars. But it doesn’t know where some of that…
FTC Settles Privacy and Security Allegations with Online Merchant for $500K and Agreement to Extensive Compliance Program
Joseph J. Lazzarotti of JacksonLewis writes about the recent CafePress settlement: The FTC recently settled its enforcement action involving data privacy and security allegations against an online seller of customized merchandise. In addition to agreeing to pay $500,000, the online merchant consented to multiyear compliance, recordkeeping, and FTC reporting requirements. The essence of the FTC’s seven…
Financial Institution Reaches Settlement in Call Recording Class Action
Yaron Dori of Covington and Burling writes: A financial institution and its vendor recently reached a $50 million settlement in a class action lawsuit for violating the call recording provision of the California Invasion of Privacy Act (“CIPA”). The settlement is nearly three times the size of the largest previous settlement under CIPA, which provides…