On May 12, 2021, President Joe Biden issued an Executive Order to implement new policies aimed at strengthening the nation’s cybersecurity. The Executive Order was issued in response to the recent SolarWinds, Microsoft Exchange, and Colonial Pipeline cybersecurity incidents, which were, according to the White House, “a sobering reminder that U.S. public and private sector entities increasingly face sophisticated malicious cyber activity from both nation-state actors and cyber criminals.”…

On April 29, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) hosted a virtual workshop, entitled “Bringing Dark Patterns to Light,” to examine “dark patterns.” In her opening remarks, Acting FTC Chairwoman Rebecca Kelly Slaughter broadly described “dark patterns” as “user interface designs that manipulate consumers into taking unintended actions that may not be in their interest.” Chairwoman Slaughter highlighted several examples of dark patterns, including confusing cancellation procedures that force users to navigate multiple screens,…

In a thoughtful opinion that diverges from how other circuit courts have addressed the issue, the Second Circuit recently issued a ruling clarifying the circumstances when data breach plaintiffs can rely on fear of identity theft to establish Article III standing.…

In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court limited the reach of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) by narrowing what technology qualifies as an Automatic Telephone Dialing System (“ATDS”).  Among other restrictions, the TCPA prohibits calls to phone numbers using an ATDS without prior express consent.  The TCPA defines an ATDS as “equipment which has the capacity (A) to store or produce telephone numbers to be called, using a random or sequential number generator;…

Sixth Post in an Extended Series on Legislative Changes to BSA/AML Regulatory Regime As we have blogged, the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (“AMLA”) contains major changes to the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”), coupled with other changes relating to money laundering, anti-money laundering (“AML”), counter-terrorism financing (“CTF”), and protecting the U.S. financial system against illicit foreign actors. A recurring theme of the changes offered by AMLA is information sharing. AMLA mandates that the…

The latest wrinkle in the ever-changing world of data privacy litigation is the recent surge in state wiretap claims. What began as a trickle over the summer of 2020 has grown into a clear wave as plaintiffs have filed dozens of lawsuits against prominent tech, eCommerce, entertainment, and retail companies under state wiretap laws.  These lawsuits seek statutory damages for the alleged interception of consumers’ electronic communications through the defendant’s use of various website analytic…

After a pandemic-related hiatus in 2020, a number of U.S. states have proposed new data privacy laws in 2021 – and several are very close to passage.  Virginia’s proposed data privacy law appears to be the closest and is likely to be signed into law by Governor Northam in the near future.  Washington and Florida’s legislatures also have privacy bills that are making their way through the legislative process, with a good likelihood of becoming…