News Items Topics Internet Law Update

The UK Privacy Regulator Imposes an Unprecedented Fine for Inadequate Data Security

The United Kingdom’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK privacy regulator, has imposed an unprecedented fine of £400,000 against the British telecommunications retailer Carphone Warehouse. The action was taken as an aftermath of a cyber-attack that compromised personal data of more than three million Carphone Warehouse consumers and 1,000 employees. The ICO found that Carphone Warehouse violated the UK Data ...

Nuances in the User Interface of Smartphone Apps are Critical to the Enforceability of their Terms of Use

A recent decision delivered by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California illustrates how deficiencies in a smartphone app’s user interface can be fatal when the app’s operator attempts to shield itself from consumer litigation by leveraging the protections it has drafted into its terms of use.

Uber Technologies was sued in a putative class action lawsuit. ...

US Federal Court Sentences Hacker to Unprecedented Jail Time

The US Federal District Court in Seattle, Washington has sentenced a 32 year old Russian hacker to 27 years in prison –  the longest sentence ever imposed by a US Court for cybercrimes. The hacker, who is the son of a Russian member of parliament, was convicted of running an identity theft and credit fraud network and selling millions of ...

Massachusetts Enforcement Action Prohibits Ad Company from ‘Geofencing’ Around Healthcare Facilities

A digital advertising company that was hired to use mobile geofencing technology to target women entering reproductive health facilities has been prohibited from doing so in Massachusetts pursuant to a settlement announced by the Massachusetts Attorney General in early April.

The company, Copley Advertising, was hired in the spring of 2015 to direct targeted ads using geofencing to “abortion-minded women” ...

Israeli Legislature Advances Copyright Law Amendments for Combatting Online Infringements

The Knesset, the Israeli legislature, has voted to approve first reading of the Copyright Law Amendment Bill aimed at enhancing copyright holders’ rights in light of the difficulties they face in enforcing infringements committed on or through the Internet. The Bill emphasizes that it targets commercial-oriented online infringements and does not address enforcement against end users.

The Bill seeks to ...

Israeli Banks Permitted to Bar Bitcoin-Related Banking Activities

Can Israeli commercial banks refuse to allow companies engaging in Bitcoin trading to use their bank accounts for transactions related to Bitcoin trading? In a landmark decision issued earlier this month, an Israeli district court answered this question in the affirmative.

The petitioner, Bits of Gold Ltd., is an Israeli company dealing in Bitcoin trading. It opened a bank account ...

Court of Justice of the EU Holds Movie Streaming Application Infringes Copyrights in the Movies

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has held that a multimedia player distributed for a fee which enables its users to view on their television screens movies that originate from pirated websites is liable for copyright infringement of the movies viewed through it.

The player in question, 'filmspeler', offers a functionality that retrieves desired content from streaming websites ...

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