News organizations are more likely to be liable in privacy lawsuits if their reporting is factually incorrect, according to a federal court opinion issued this week.
Shana Edme, who was pursuing a modeling career, uploaded her modeling photographs to Modelmayhem, an industry website. She alleges that in 2011, the site released pictures of her in…
For Tom DeLay, yesterday’s Texas Court of Appeals ruling reversing his conviction on money laundering charges (with its accompanying three year prison sentence) probably makes up for the former House Majority Leader’s Dancing with the Stars loss. The acquittal marks another high-profile defeat for government prosecutors bringing criminal charges predicated on alleged election law violations.…
The World Wide Web Consortium (“W3C”) Tracking Protection Working Group (“TPWG”) on Wednesday announced the addition of two new chairs to spearhead its efforts to craft an online tracking mechanism. The new chairs, Center for Democracy and Technology Director Justin Brookman, and Adobe Systems, Inc. Carl Cargill will be joining Intel Corp.’s Matthias Schunter in…
The Digital Advertising Alliance (“DAA”) on Tuesday announced that it will withdraw from the World Wide Web Consortium (“W3C”) tracking protection working group (“TPWG”), saying that the TPWG has “reached the end of its useful life.”
In a letter to the TPWG (full text available here), DAA Managing Director Lou Mastria explained that: “After…
On September 18, 2013, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) proposed a rule that would require most public companies to disclose, annually, the ratio of the median of the annual total compensation of all of the company’s employees to the annual total compensation of the company’s principal executive officer. This rule is mandated by Section…
A federal appellate court on Wednesday ruled that the First Amendment protects the act of “liking” on Facebook or other social media.
In Bland v. Roberts, a sheriff’s deputy “liked” the Facebook page of the candidate who was challenging the incumbent sheriff in the upcoming elections. After the incumbent won re-election, the deputy was fired.…
The Department of Labor issued a technical release today addressing the effect of the Supreme Court’s decision in U.S. v. Windsor on employee benefit plans. The Windsor decision struck down section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, thereby requiring the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages that are recognized under state law. The IRS…
The Departments of Labor and Treasury have released guidance (Technical Release 2013-03 and Notice 2013-54) clarifying the effect of the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) on employee assistance plans (“EAPs”) and account-based arrangements, such as health reimbursement arrangements (“HRAs”) and health flexible spending arrangements (“health FSAs”). The guidance indicates that the Department of Health…
The Civil Liberties Committee (“LIBE”), the European Parliament’s lead committee for the proposed General Data Protection Regulation, is expected to vote on its preliminary position on the European Commission’s proposal on October, 21. LIBE has been struggling to reduce the large number of suggested amendments and, as a result, its vote has already been postponed…
On 12 September, 2013, the European Commission formally adopted a proposal for a new Telecommunications Regulation (the “Regulation”). The Regulation would, if enacted, reform the European Union’s telecommunication rules, including in areas such as net neutrality, spectrum allocation, roaming charges, and consumer rights in mobile and telecoms contracts. The proposal is now being considered by the…
