Andy Serwin writes: As the Senate Judicary Committee continues its analysis regarding ECPA, it should note that the statement that ECPA was “famous (if not infamous) for its lack of clarity” was reaffirmed by two conflicting decisions—one from the Central District of California, and one from New York, which reach opposite conclusions regarding the discovery and privacy…
Category: Laws
Senate passes bill to limit access to SSN
Before they fled Washington early, the Senate managed to pass S.3789, the Social Security Number Protection Act of 2010. The bill, which had been introduced by Senator Feinstein, is designed to reduce identity theft and has two key provisions: (a) It prohibits governmental agencies from using individuals’ Social Security Numbers on any checks cut by the…
State Sen. Turner proposes increasing penalties for privacy invasions
As I predicted, it was only a matter of time before we’d start hearing about new laws being proposed following Tyler Clementi’s suicide. Now Matt Friedman reports that a New Jersey legislator is proposing increased penalties for invasion of privacy. While prosecutors are still considering whether to throw in some bias crime charges against the…
Stored Communications Act limits Gmail information obtainable pursuant to subpoena
Evan Brown writes: Beluga Shipping GMBH & Co. KS Beluga Fantastic v. Suzlon Energy LTD., 2010 WL 3749279 (N.D. Cal., Sept. 23, 2010) Court rules that under the Stored Communications Act, account holder consent is required to obtain copies of emails in Google’s possession. Before you issue a subpoena seeking copies of emails, read Beluga Shipping….