Jason M. Weinstein of Steptoe & Johnson reviews recent litigation trends. His sympathies seem clearly with the businesses and not government regulators or states seeking to protect consumers:
Nearly every day we read about another data breach at yet another major company in the United States. Yet even more disturbing than the increase in data breaches is the rise in efforts by regulators and class-action lawyers to try to blame the victim companies for not doing more to prevent those breaches. Federal regulatory agencies, most notably the Federal Trade Commission, and numerous state attorneys general have targeted victim companies in the wake of cyberattacks.
These same regulators have also aggressively pursued companies for alleged privacy violations based on the companies’ own collection and use of personal data.
Read more on Steptoe & Johnson.
Update: Thompson & Knight have also issued a client alert about the FTC’s “aggressive” stance. Of course, some of us see that as A Good Thing. 🙂