The Internet of Things (IoT) segment has grown, and with it have come many examples of vulnerable products, from babycams whose feeds could be viewed by strangers online to hackable implantable cardiac devices. There are also infamous examples of botnets (i.e., clusters of hacked devices) featuring millions of IoT devices with one common trait: weak
technology
FCC Adopts Broadband Privacy NPRM
At its Open Meeting yesterday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would apply the privacy protections in Section 222 of the Communications Act to broadband Internet Service Providers (ISPs). The text of the NPRM, which reportedly seeks public comment on more than 500 questions relating to privacy and…
Supreme Court Refuses to Moot TCPA Class Action, Leaving Business Open to More Suits
The Supreme Court yesterday denied an attempt by a defendant to moot a class action under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), 48 Stat. 1064, Pub. L. 102–243 (Dec. 20, 1991) (codified at 47 U.S.C. § 227), on the basis of an unaccepted settlement offer to the named plaintiff. The case, Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez…
Is Your Device ID “Personal”? Federal Appeals Court to Decide Under VPPA
A federal appellate court will consider early next month whether the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) makes an “Android ID” – a device identifier used in Google’s smartphones –personally identifiable information (PII). The Eleventh Circuit has scheduled oral argument in the case, Ellis v. Cartoon Network, Inc., for June 3, 2015.
The plaintiff in…
Watch What You Listen To (and Watch)
The flow of data over the Internet creates privacy concerns in strange situations. For instance, when Pandora, the music streaming service, integrated its subscribers’ profile pages with their Facebook accounts, Pandora apparently made music preferences and listening choices available to the subscribers’ friends. The result was a suit alleging a violation of a Michigan statute…
FTC Diagnosis: App Health Claims Need Life Support
Technology is advancing fast, but would you use an app to figure out if you had cancer? According the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), that’s just what two app developers were recommending, but the FTC said they lacked the evidence to back their claims up. The FTC entered into consent agreements with two companies, MelApp and…