Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

On February 1, 2013, the Federal Trade Commission issued a new report entitled Mobile Privacy Disclosures: Building Trust Through Transparency. The report makes recommendations “for the major participants in the mobile ecosystem as they work to improve mobile privacy disclosures,” offering specific recommendations for mobile platforms, app developers, advertising networks and other third parties operating in this space. The FTC’s report also makes mention of the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s efforts to engage in a multistakeholder process to develop an industry code of conduct for mobile apps.

On January 23, 2012, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (“FFIEC”) released proposed guidance, Social Media: Consumer Compliance Risk Management Guidance (the “Guidance”) to address how federal consumer protection laws may apply to the social media activities of financial institutions that are supervised by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Comments on the guidance must be submitted within 60 days (before March 25, 2013). After consideration of the public comments, and once the guidance is finalized, financial institutions will be expected to “use the guidance in their efforts to ensure that their risk management practices adequately address the consumer compliance and legal risks, as well as related risks, such as reputation and operational risks, raised by activities conducted via social media.” Rather than imposing additional obligations on financial institutions, the Guidance is intended to help financial institutions comply with existing federal requirements as they apply to the use of social media platforms.

Reporting from Washington, D.C., Hunton & Williams associate Andrew Walsh writes:

Data embedded in photos can make a picture worth far more than a thousand words. To provide an example rich in irony, a well-known figure in Internet security who was wanted for police questioning recently inadvertently pinpointed his location for the authorities with an online posting of a photo containing Exchangeable Image File (“EXIF”) data. EXIF data is saved with JPG files on digital cameras and, if the camera has GPS, the EXIF data may include geolocation information such as the date, time, longitude, latitude and altitude of the photo.

On December 10, 2012, the Federal Trade Commission issued a new report, Mobile Apps for Kids: Disclosures Still Not Making the Grade, which follows up on the FTC’s February 2012 report, Mobile Apps for Kids: Current Privacy Disclosures are Disappointing. The FTC conducted a follow-up survey regarding pre-download mobile app privacy disclosures, and whether those disclosures accurately describe what occurs during use of the apps.

The Hunton Employment & Labor Perspectives Blog examines issues related to professional use of social media: who owns social media accounts, contacts and valuable consumer data when an employee resigns? Read the full blog entry.

On October 22, 2012, the Federal Trade Commission released a report entitled “Facing Facts: Best Practices for Common Uses of Facial Recognition Technologies.” The report focuses on privacy concerns associated with facial recognition technology, which is becoming increasingly ubiquitous across a variety of commercial applications ranging from search engines to video games to password authentication.

As reported in the Hunton Employment & Labor Perspectives Blog:

Employees use social media extensively in communication for personal and business reasons. Employers are increasingly monitoring this use, and insisting on access to some of the more popular sites. California took notice of this trend and passed legislation to protect employee privacy. On September 27, 2012, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. signed AB 1844 making California the third state to limit access to employees’ social media account, joining Maryland and Illinois.

As reported in the Hunton Employment & Labor Perspectives Blog:

On September 20, 2012, Administrative Law Judge Clifford H. Anderson struck down telecommunications company EchoStar Corporation’s policy prohibiting employees from making disparaging comments about it on social media sites. The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) judge found that the prohibition, as well as a ban on employees using social media sites with company resources or on company time, chilled employees’ exercise of their rights under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”). The EchoStar decision comes on the heels of the NLRB’s recent ruling striking down Costco Wholesale Corporation’s policy barring employees from posting statements online that were harmful to the company’s reputation.

As reported in the Hunton Employment & Labor Perspectives Blog:

On September 7, 2012, the National Labor Relations Board invalidated Costco Wholesale Corp.’s policy of prohibiting employee electronic posts in its first decision involving an employer’s social media policy. In Costco Wholesale Corporation and UFCW Local 371, Case No. 3A-CA-012421, the Board held, among other things, that Costco’s rule prohibiting employees from posting statements electronically that “damage the Company, defame any individual or damage any person’s reputation” was overly broad. The Board reasoned that the policy language contained no restrictions on its application and, thus, clearly encompassed protected concerted communications, such as speech that is critical of Costco or its agents. Accordingly, the rule had a tendency to chill employees’ protected activity in violation of Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act, which makes it an unfair labor practice for an employer to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in the exercise of their rights guaranteed by Section 7.

On August 10, 2012, a federal district court in California denied Hulu’s motion to dismiss the remaining claim in a putative class action suit alleging that the online streaming video provider transmitted users’ personal information to third parties in violation of the Video Privacy Protection Act (“VPPA”). The VPPA prohibits a “video tape service provider” from transmitting personally identifiable information of “consumers,” except in certain, limited circumstances. According to the complaint, Hulu allegedly allowed KISSmetrics, a data analytics company, to place tracking codes on the plaintiffs’ computers that re-spawned previously-deleted cookies, and shared Hulu users’ video viewing choices and “personally identifiable information” with third parties, including online ad networks, metrics companies and social media networks.

On July 24, 2012, a bipartisan group of eight members of Congress sent letters to nine major data brokerage companies requesting information on how the companies collect, assemble and sell consumer information to third parties. Representatives Ed Markey (D-MA) and Joe Barton (R-TX), who serve as co-chairmen of the Bipartisan Congressional Privacy Caucus, are leading the inquiry. The Privacy Caucus, which is an ad hoc group rather than a formally constituted congressional committee, is comprised of members who have a common interest in privacy issues. The Caucus cannot call formal hearings, compel production of materials or pass legislation.

As reported in the Hunton Employment & Labor Perspectives Blog:

In recent years, the National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB") and unions have placed a growing emphasis on extending the application of labor law into the social media arena. As part of this initiative, the NLRB has adopted a strong stance against social media policies that it believes pose a threat to employees’ right to engage in protected activities under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act ("NLRA").

On May 30, 2012, the Federal Trade Commission hosted a public workshop addressing the need for new guidance on advertising and privacy disclosures online and in mobile environments. During the workshop, the FTC announced that it hopes to release an updated version of its online advertising disclosure guidance this fall that would incorporate input from businesses and consumer advocates. Topics explored at the workshop included:

• Best practices for privacy disclosures on mobile platforms and how they can be short, effective and accessible to consumers;
• how to put disclosures in proximity to offers on mobile platforms;
• social media disclosures; and
• the placement of material information on webpages.

In recent months, two high-profile cases involving Hulu and Netflix have raised questions regarding the scope and application of the Video Privacy Protection Act (“VPPA”), a federal privacy law that has been the focus of increasing attention over the past few years. In the Hulu case, Hulu users claimed that the subscription-based video streaming service disclosed their viewing history to third parties. Specifically, their complaint alleges that Hulu worked with KISSmetrics, a data analytics company, to track subscribers’ viewing histories and then share that information with third parties such as Facebook. In its response, Hulu has maintained that it is not subject to the VPPA because it is not a “video tape service provider,” which is defined in relevant part as “any person, engaged in the business, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, of rental, sale, or delivery of prerecorded video cassette tapes or similar audio visual materials…” Alternatively, Hulu has argued that its information sharing with third parties was permitted by the VPPA’s exception that allows disclosures “incident to the ordinary course of business of the video tape service provider.” The case, which currently is headed to mediation, could have far-reaching effects if it is determined that video streaming services are subject to the VPPA’s requirements.

On May 8, 2012, the Federal Trade Commission announced a settlement agreement with the social networking service Myspace LLC (“Myspace”). The FTC alleged that Myspace’s practice of sharing users’ personal information with unaffiliated third-party advertisers conflicted with representations the company made in its privacy policy, and could allow those advertisers to obtain users’ names, publicly available information and information about their online browsing habits.

On April 9, 2012, Maryland became the first state to pass legislation that would prevent employers from asking or forcing employees and applicants to hand over their social media login credentials. The bill, which passed the state Senate unanimously (Senate Bill 433) and the House of Delegates by a wide margin (House Bill 964), now awaits Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley’s signature.

On April 5, 2012, social media giant Twitter, Inc. (“Twitter”) filed a civil lawsuit against spammers and makers of spamming software claiming violations of Twitter’s user agreement and various California state and common laws. Borrowing from the popular term for unsolicited email messages, Twitter’s complaint describes “spam” on Twitter as “a variety of abusive behaviors” including “posting a Tweet with a harmful link … and abusing the @reply and @mention functions to post unwanted messages to a user.” The suit alleges that certain defendants violated Twitter’s Terms of Service, which prohibit “spam and abuse,” by distributing software tools “designed to facilitate abuse of the Twitter platform and marketed to dupe customers into violating Twitter’s user agreement.” Other defendants allegedly operated large numbers of automated Twitter accounts through which they attempted to “trick Twitter users into clicking on links to illegitimate websites.”

On March 27, 2012, the Federal Trade Commission announced a proposed settlement order with RockYou, Inc. (“RockYou”), a publisher and developer of applications used on popular social media sites. The FTC alleged that RockYou failed to protect the personal information of 32 million of its users, and violated multiple provisions of the FTC’s Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) Rule when it collected information from approximately 179,000 children.

In its new report, Mobile Apps for Kids: Current Privacy Disclosures are Disappointing, the Federal Trade Commission issues a “warning call to industry that it must do more to provide parents with easily accessible, basic information about the mobile apps that their children use.” The report indicates:

“Parents should be able to learn what information an app collects, how the information will be used, and with whom the information will be shared. App developers also should alert parents if the app connects with any social media, or allows targeted advertising to occur through the app. Third parties that collect user information through apps also should disclose their privacy practices, whether through a link on the app promotion page, the developers’ disclosures, or another easily accessible method.”

On February 16, 2012, the European Court of Justice held in the SABAM vs. Netlog case (C-360/10) that imposing an obligation on social networks to install a “general filtering system” to prevent all users from sharing copyrighted music is disproportionate to the extent that such filters may infringe on user privacy rights or block lawful communications. SABAM, a Belgian copyright association, had filed an injunction against social network provider Netlog that would have required Netlog to install filtering systems to prevent copyright infringements by Netlog users. The Belgian court deciding on the injunction requested a preliminary ruling from the ECJ.

As reported in the Hunton Employment & Labor Perspectives Blog, last week, the NLRB’s Acting General Counsel, Lafe Solomon, released a second report containing guidance relating to employee use of social media. This report comes less than six months after the release of the NLRB’s first report on the subject in August 2011. Like the August report, the new release summarizes a number of recent cases decided by the NLRB in which an employee was terminated at least in part because of his or her comments on social media websites.

Read the full post, which discusses key themes that emerge ...

On December 1, 2011, a consolidated litigation against Netflix was ordered to private mediation pursuant to an agreement between the parties. As we previously reported, the plaintiffs allege that Netflix’s practice of maintaining customer movie rental history and recommendations after their subscriptions are cancelled violates the federal Video Privacy Protection Act (“VPPA”). In August 2011, several similar cases against Netflix were consolidated by a federal court in California.

News of the mediation order comes as a significant amendment to the VPPA awaits Senate ...

On November 29, 2011, the Federal Trade Commission announced that Facebook has settled charges that it deceived consumers by making false privacy promises. The settlement requires Facebook to (1) not misrepresent how it maintains the privacy or security of users’ personal information (2) obtain users’ “affirmative express consent” before sharing their information with any third party that “materially exceeds the restrictions imposed by a user’s privacy setting(s),” (3) implement procedures to prevent a third party from accessing users’ information no later than 30 days after the user has deleted such information or terminated his or her account, (4) establish, implement and maintain a comprehensive privacy program, and (5) obtain initial and biennial assessments and reports regarding its privacy practices for the next 20 years.

On November 16, 2011, the French Data Protection Authority (the “CNIL”) published its Annual Activity Report for 2010 (the “Report”) highlighting its main 2010 accomplishments and outlining some of its priorities for the upcoming year. This year’s Report covers events that occurred since last year’s publication of the Annual Activity Report for 2009.

On November 2, 2011, Germany’s Federal Minister of the Interior met with stakeholders from the social networking industry and announced the development of a self-regulatory code for social networks. According to the Ministry’s press release, the code is aimed at enhancing data protection, consumer protection and the protection of minors on the Internet.

In endorsing the initiative, the Interior Minister stated, “self-regulation can also prove efficient in the social networking context, allowing for quick and flexible arrangements that enhance transparency and user ...

On November 8, 2011, the Federal Trade Commission announced that the operator of skidekids.com, a social networking website that advertises itself as the “Facebook and Myspace for Kids,” has agreed to settle charges that he collected personal information from approximately 5,600 children without parental consent, in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) Rule. The proposed settlement will bar future violations of COPPA and misrepresentations about the collection, use and disclosure of children’s information.

On October 27, 2011, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed claims that Facebook misappropriated users’ names and likenesses in promoting its “Friend Finder” feature. Friend Finder identifies potential “friends” for a Facebook user by matching his or her email contacts with users already registered with Facebook, then presenting the user with friend suggestions. Facebook promoted the feature by displaying the names and profile photos of current friends as examples of users who had found friends with Friend Finder.

On September 15, 2011, the Federal Trade Commission released proposed amendments to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (“COPPA Rule” or “Rule”).  These revisions follow the FTC’s review of the COPPA Rule, which resulted in numerous comments from various groups and individuals, as well as a public round table that took place on June 2, 2010.  The proposed amendments reflect the FTC’s commitment to “helping to create a safer, more secure online experience for children” in the face of rapid technological change.

On September 8, 2011, Richard Allan, Facebook’s Director of European Public Policy, met with the German Federal Ministry of the Interior (the “Ministry”) and endorsed the Ministry’s initiative for a future self-regulatory code for social networks with a focus on data security, consumer protection and the protection of minors.

As reported in the Hunton Employment & Labor Perspectives Blog, on August 18, 2011, the National Labor Relations Board’s Acting General Counsel issued a report discussing fourteen social media cases recently decided by the Board.  The cases highlighted in the report offer insight regarding how the NLRB will handle various social media issues in the future.

Read the full post, which provides an overview of several of the cases highlighted in the NLRB’s report.

On August 19, 2011, the Data Protection Commissioner’s Office of the German federal state of Schleswig-Holstein (“ULD”) ordered all businesses in that state “to shut down their fan pages on Facebook and remove social plug-ins such as the ‘like’-button from their websites.”  Although this warning is specific to Facebook users, the regulator’s explanation of its motives reveals a fundamental concern about common data analytics practices:

“By using the Facebook service traffic and content data are transferred into the USA and a qualified feedback is sent back to the website owner concerning the web page usage, the so called web analytics (Ger.: Reichweitenanalyse).  Whoever visits facebook.com or uses a plug-in must expect that he or she will be tracked by the company for two years.  Facebook builds a broad individual and for members even a personalised profile.  Such a profiling infringes German and European data protection law.  There is no sufficient information of users and there is no choice; the wording in the conditions of use and privacy statements of Facebook does not nearly meet the legal requirements relevant for compliance of legal notice, privacy consent and general terms of use.”

Recent developments involving the use of facial recognition technology have raised privacy concerns in the United States, Europe and Canada.  As we reported earlier this month, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (“EPIC”) and several other consumer privacy advocacy groups filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission against Facebook for its use of facial recognition technology.  According to EPIC’s complaint, Facebook’s Tag Suggestions feature recognizes individuals’ faces based on photographs already on Facebook, then suggests that users “confirm Facebook’s identification of facial images in user photos” when they upload new photos to their Facebook profiles.

As reported in Hunton & Williams' Employment & Labor Perspectives blog, two unfair labor practice complaints recently issued by National Labor Relations Board regional offices in Buffalo and Chicago illustrate how closely the NLRB is scrutinizing employers’ termination decisions that are allegedly related to statements employees made on social media.  Read the full entry.

On June 10, 2011, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (“EPIC”) filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, claiming that Facebook’s facial recognition and automated online image identification features harm consumers and constitute “unfair and deceptive acts and practices.” According to a post on The Facebook Blog, the Tag Suggestions feature matches uploaded “new photos to other photos [the user is] tagged in.”  Facebook then “[groups] similar photos together and, whenever possible, suggest[s] the name of the friend in the photos.”  On June 13, 2011, Congressman Edward Markey (D-MA) released a statement supporting the complaint and indicating that he will “continue to closely monitor this issue.”

On May 31, 2011, an Order was filed in the District Court for the Northern District of California granting final approval of the Google Buzz class action settlement and cy pres awards for organizations focused on Internet privacy policy or privacy education. Pursuant to the Order, the court adopted the Google Buzz settlement agreement and certified the proposed settlement class, which includes “all Gmail users in the United States presented with the opportunity to use Google Buzz through the Notice Date.” The court also approved the following list of organizations and ...

A new bill proposed in California, the Social Networking Privacy Act (the “Act”), would force social networking websites to establish default privacy settings for their users that prohibit such sites from publicly displaying most information about users without the users’ consent.  Given that many social networking websites currently have default settings that make user personal information and photos public unless the user changes those settings, the Act would represent a fundamental shift in social networking privacy.

As reported in Hunton & Williams' Employment & Labor Perspectives blog:

The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) regional offices addressing complaints involving employers’ social media policies must seek advice from the NLRB’s Division of Advice before taking any action.  The memorandum, issued by the NLRB’s Office of the General Counsel on April 12th, added social media disputes to the list of matters that must be submitted to the Division of Advice.  The Division of Advice is responsible for issuing opinions on difficult or novel labor issues.

On April 26, 2011, the French Data Protection Authority (the “CNIL”) issued a press release unveiling its inspection goals for the coming year.  In a report adopted on March 24, 2011, the CNIL indicated that it intends to conduct at least 400 inspections in France (100 more than the 2010 goal), with a special focus on the following issues:

On March 30, 2011, the Federal Trade Commission announced that Google agreed to settle charges that it used deceptive tactics and violated its own privacy promises to consumers when it launched its social network, Google Buzz, in 2010.  According to the FTC’s complaint (main document, exhibits), Google led Gmail users to believe that they could choose whether or not they wanted to join Google Buzz.  The options for declining or leaving Google Buzz, however, were ineffective.  For those who joined Google Buzz, the controls for limiting the sharing of their personal information were difficult to locate and confusing.  Furthermore, the FTC charged that Google violated its privacy policies by using information provided for Gmail for another purpose – social networking – without obtaining consumers’ permission in advance.  Finally, the FTC alleged that Google misrepresented that it was treating personal information from the European Union in accordance with the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor framework because it failed to give consumers notice and choice before using their information for a different purpose from that for which it was collected.

As reported in Hunton & Williams' Employment & Labor Perspectives blog:

An employer who allegedly posted to an employee’s Facebook and Twitter accounts without her consent may face liability for its actions, according to a federal judge in Illinois.  The case is Maremont v. Susan Fredman Design Group, Ltd., in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26441, March 15, 2011).

The Plaintiff, Jill E. Maremont, worked as the Director of Marketing, Public Relations and E-Commerce for an interior designer and her company, Susan Fredman and the Susan Fredman Design Group, Ltd. (Defendants).  Maremont contends she created a “popular personal following” on Facebook and Twitter, and she also created a company blog called “Designer Diaries: Tales from the Interior.”

On March 16, 2011, a meeting of the “European Privacy Platform” group of the European Parliament was held in Brussels.  The meeting provided important insights into the likely structure and content of proposed revisions to the European Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC that the European Commission has been working on for the past several months.

The Committee of Experts on New Media (the “Expert Committee”) of the Council of Europe (“CoE”) has issued draft recommendations and guidelines regarding the protection of human rights by search engines and social networking providers. The draft recommendations and guidelines observe that the way in which search engines and social networking providers operate impacts various human rights, especially the rights to freedom of expression and information and the right to privacy and data protection. Current drafts of both sets of recommendations and guidelines are open for public consultation and comments until March 18, 2011.

On February 18, 2011, the European Network and Information Security Agency (“ENISA”), an advisory body created to enhance information security in the EU, announced the issuance of its report on cookies, entitled “Bittersweet cookies.  Some security and privacy considerations.”

Early this week, the Article 29 Working Party issued its December 16, 2010 Opinion on applicable law, providing guidance on the scope of EU data protection law and the practical implications of Article 4 of the EU Data Protection Directive (95/46/EC, the “Directive”).

The purpose of the Working Party’s Opinion 8/2010 (the “Opinion”) is twofold.  First, it intends to clarify the current scope of EU data protection law with regard to the processing of personal data within and outside the European Economic Area (the “EEA”).  The clarifications by the Working Party are aimed at enhancing legal certainty for data controllers, providing a clearer framework for individuals and stakeholders and avoiding legal loopholes and potential conflicts between overlapping national data protection laws.  Throughout the Opinion, practical examples are used to demonstrate the clarifications, such as in the context of centralized HR databases, geolocation services, cloud computing and online social networks.  Furthermore, in light of the general revision of the EU data protection framework, the Opinion includes suggestions to improve the existing applicable law provisions in the EU Data Protection Directive.

The International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners is convening in Jerusalem.  Appropriately, given the ancient history of the host city, the conference theme is “Privacy: Generations.”  The debate on Day One has drawn on the founding principles of data protection, but also has heavily focused on the future challenges in safeguarding the fundamental rights of privacy and data protection in a world of ubiquitous computing and social networking.

The tone was set in the opening plenary when Dr. Yuval Steinitz, the Israeli Minister of Finance, reminded us of the key tensions in privacy policy.  While privacy may be a fundamental tenet of every democracy, individual cultures must make choices between the competing values of privacy and security, and privacy and transparency.  The balance between these values, and the priority given to one over the other, will shift over time and from one culture to another.  The conference provides a timely opportunity to reassess where that balance currently lies, and what balance may be appropriate in the near future.

As reported in Hunton & Williams' Employment & Labor Perspectives blog:

A recent New York state trial court decision, Romano v. Steelcase Inc., et al., is representative of a recent trend of parties seeking, and courts permitting, discovery of information on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.  Rejecting the plaintiff’s privacy concerns, the Romano court held that such information is discoverable because the plaintiff’s damages are at issue.  The court ordered the release of the plaintiff’s postings, pictures and other information on the social networking sites.

In November 2009, the French Secretary of State in charge of the digital economy, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, launched a wide-ranging campaign designed to secure the “right to be forgotten” on the Internet (“droit à l’oubli”).  The main objectives of the initiative were to: (1) educate Internet users about their exposure to privacy risks on the Internet; (2) encourage professionals to adopt codes of good practice and to develop privacy-enhancing tools; and (3) foster data protection and the right to be forgotten at both the national and EU level.

Following its recent enactment of an omnibus data protection law, Mexico has been unanimously elected to lead the Ibero-American Data Protection Network, a consortium of the governments of Spain, Portugal, Andorra and 19 Latin American countries.  The group’s mission is to foster, maintain and strengthen an exchange of information, experience and knowledge among Ibero-American countries through dialogue and collaboration on issues related to personal data protection.  The IFAI announced on September 29, 2010, that Jacqueline Peschard, head of Mexico’s Federal ...

On September 15, 2010, New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced a $100,000 settlement with EchoMetrix, a developer of parental control software that monitors children’s online activity.  The settlement comes one year after the Electronic Privacy Information Center (“EPIC”) alleged in a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission that EcoMetrix was deceptively collecting and marketing children’s information.

Reporting from Israel, legal consultant Dr. Omer Tene writes:

On July 28, 2010, the Israeli Supervisor of Banks, Rony Hizkiyahu, issued a letter to the CEOs of all local banks expressing concern over the banks' and their employees' use of online social networks, including both proprietary Web 2.0 tools and networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace and YouTube, all of which are explicitly referred to in the letter.  The Supervisor of Banks, Israel’s banking regulator, requires banks to take steps to ensure data protection and information security, including ...

Bret Taylor, the Chief Technology Officer of Facebook, announced this week on the Facebook Blog that the company will enhance privacy protections pertaining to third-party applications.  When a Facebook user logs into a third-party application with his or her Facebook account, the application will only be able to access the public parts of the user’s Facebook profile.  If the application wants to access private sections of a user’s Facebook profile, the application has to explicitly ask the Facebook user for permission.  For example, if a greeting card application wants to ...

Twitter has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it deceived consumers and put their privacy at risk by failing to safeguard their personal information.  The charges stem from alleged lapses in the company’s data security that permitted hackers to access tweets that users had designated as private and to issue phony tweets from the accounts of some users, including then-President-elect Barack Obama.  According to the FTC’s complaint (main document, exhibits), these attacks on Twitter’s system were possible due to a failure to implement reasonable ...

On May 26, 2010, the court in Crispin v. Christian Audigier, Inc. quashed portions of subpoenas seeking the disclosure of private messages sent through Facebook and MySpace.  The court left open the question of whether Crispin’s wall postings and comments should be disclosed pending a more thorough review of his online privacy settings.

Legislators at the federal and state levels are urging social networking websites to enhance privacy protections available to their users.  On April 27, 2010, four U.S. Senators wrote a letter to Facebook’s CEO expressing “concern regarding recent changes to the Facebook privacy policy and the use of personal data on third party websites.”  The letter urged Facebook to provide opt-in mechanisms for users, as opposed to lengthy opt-out processes, and highlighted default sharing of personal information, third-party advertisers’ data storage and instant personalization features as three areas of concern.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that outgoing FTC Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour criticized technology companies for publicly exposing consumer data, particularly during the rollout of new products.  Ms. Harbour lamented that companies do not take consumer privacy seriously.  She singled out the launch of Google Buzz as irresponsible conduct by “one of the greatest technology leaders of our time.”  Consumer advocates raised alarm when Google Buzz initially established Google Gmail users’ social network connections automatically based on the users’ email and chat contacts, and made that list public by default.  Ms. Harbour reiterated the advocates’ sentiment by stating that, from the time the product launched, consumers rather than Google should have decided whether or not to subscribe to the features that could expose their contact data.  Soon after the launch, Google changed the defaults to allow users more control.  Google put forth a conciliatory message, stating that user transparency and control are top priorities for the company and that Google is continuing to improve Buzz based on the feedback the company receives.

In February 24, 2010, an Italian court in Milan found three Google executives guilty of violating applicable Italian privacy laws.  The executives were accused of violating Italian law by having allowed a video showing an autistic teenager being bullied to be posted online.  The Google executives, Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer David Drummond, Chief Privacy Counsel Peter Fleischer and former Chief Financial Officer George Reyes, were fined and received six-month suspended jail sentences.

Pursuant to a public complaint, on January 27, 2010, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada announced a new investigation into Facebook.  The investigation concerns the social networking site’s introduction of a tool that required its users to review their privacy settings in December 2009.  According to the complaint, Facebook’s new default settings allegedly made some users’ information more accessible than previously had been the case.  Elizabeth Denham, the Assistant Privacy Commissioner, indicated “[s]ome Facebook users are disappointed by certain changes being ...

On January 25, 2010, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) issued Regulatory Notice 10-06, Guidance on Blogs and Social Networking Web Sites (the “Guidance”) for securities firms, investment advisors and brokers.  FINRA, which is the largest non-governmental financial regulator, previously had issued guidance on other issues pertaining to interactive web sites, such as participation by securities firms and their employees in Internet chat rooms discussing stocks or investments.  The goals of the Guidance are to “ensure that—as the use of social media sites increases over time—investors are protected from false or misleading claims and representations” as well as “to interpret [the] rules in a flexible manner to allow firms to communicate with clients and investors using” blogs and social networking.

On January 18, 2010, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Jennifer Stoddart, announced a public consultation to examine the privacy issues associated with online tracking, profiling and targeting of consumers.  The Commissioner noted that the consultation will “provide a forum for the exploration of the privacy implications related to this modern industry practice, and the protections that Canadians expect.”  The consultation marks the first in a series to review emerging technologies that are likely to have a considerable impact on consumer privacy.  The announcement of a ...

On November 12, 2009, the Federation of German Consumer Organisations (Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband e.V., “vzbv”), a non-governmental organization acting as an umbrella for 41 German consumer associations announced that the social networks Xing, MySpace, Facebook, Lokalisten, Wer-kennt-Wen and StudiVZ signed undertakings that they would discontinue use of certain terms and conditions and data protection provisions.  The vzbv sent warning notices to the six leading social network providers regarding a number of clauses.

The main criticism from vzbv referred to ...

On October 5, 2009, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) issued amendments to its Guides for the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (“Guides”).  Reactions to the amendment have primarily focused on the provisions that require bloggers to disclose their relationship with companies whose products they endorse.  Largely absent from the commentary, however, have been observations regarding theories articulated in the amendments that demonstrate the risk of enforcement for companies that do not have a blog and that do not use third-party bloggers for promotion.

On September 15, 2009, the Federal Trade Commission unveiled a series of public roundtables that will focus on the effect of modern technology and business practices on the privacy of consumer information.  The goal of the panels is to explore how to best balance the concerns for consumer privacy, beneficial use of consumer information and technological innovation.  The discussions will address myriad technologies and practices, such as social networking, cloud computing, behavioral marketing, mobile marketing and, generally, the collection of consumer information for ...

On March 11, 2009, the operators of Germany's leading social networks, which include "schuelerVZ," "studiVZ,"  "lokalisten" and "wer-kennt-wen," signed a 17-page Code of Conduct by the Association for Voluntary Self-Regulation of Multimedia Service Providers (the “Code”) in order to protect children and young people. The Code of Conduct aims to improve data protection and consumer protection in social networks and, in particular, to protect young people against harassment. The Code requires that a privacy notice be displayed directly after the registration process and ...