FTC Proposes a Ban on Non-Compete Clauses in Employment Agreements

The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has published a proposal for new regulations that would prohibit employers from having their employees sign any provision in the employment agreement that prevents the employees from working with the competitor, whether or not briefly. The FTC announced that it has determined that these terms constitute an unfair practice against the competition, in ...

Israeli Ministry of Justice Opines on Fair Use of Copyrighted Content for AI/ML Training

The Israeli Ministry of Justice has published an opinion that aims to clarify whether and how artificial intelligence (AI)-based ventures may use copyrighted content to train machine learning models. According to the Israeli Ministry of Justice, the use of copyrighted content to train a machine-learning tool is likely to be permissible as ‘fair use’ under copyright law and will likely ...

Meta Hit with a €390 Million Fine for GDPR Violations

The Data Protection Commission of Ireland was driven by the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) to issue an enforcement decision against Facebook and Instagram which proscribes their processing of personal data for targeted advertising absent the user's informed, freely given, specific, and withdrawable consent. The Irish regulator also fined the two companies an aggregate penalty of 390 million Euros.

In ...

UK Court Issues John Doe Injunction Against Cyber Attacker

The High Court of Justice in the United Kingdom issued a permanent injunction against unnamed cyber attackers, at the request of a company that had sustained cyberattacks and whose name remains undisclosed under the court order. The court ruled that the plaintiff's anonymity must be preserved because releasing the company’s identity would advance the goals of the unnamed cyber attackers ...

Epic Games, Developer of Fortnite, Will Pay Half a Billion Dollars for Privacy and Consumer Violations

The developer and operator of Fortnite, Epic Games, had agreed to a hefty settlement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Under the settlement, the company will pay the FTC a civil penalty of $275 million for violations of the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). This is the largest civil penalty ever given for violating an FTC rule. ...

U.S. Decides TikTok Must Be Used in the Federal Government

On the last Thursday of 2022, the President of the United States, Joe Biden, singed into law a budget bill spanning more than 1,600 pages, including a prohibition of the use of TikTok on federal government-issued devices.

The prohibition, titled “No TikTok on Government Devices Act”, will affect more than 4 million U.S. government employees but excludes those who use ...

Israeli Privacy Regulator Publishes Draft Guidance on Monitoring Remote Workers

The Israeli Privacy Protection Authority published draft guidance on the privacy-related aspects of monitoring remote workers. The draft explains that privacy protection laws permit employers to use technological tools to monitor employees that work remotely, subject to certain restrictions. But any such use may only be for legitimate reasons. The use of the monitoring measures must be proportionate and consensual, ...

OECD Members Agree to Protect Personal Data from the Reach of Security Agencies

Nearly forty OECD member countries adopted the first intergovernmental agreement for the protection of personal data with an emphasis on freedoms and human rights when accessing personal data in times of emergency and for national security purposes.

The intergovernmental agreement joins the OECD guidelines for the protection of privacy that were updated in 2013. The new agreement reinforces the standard ...