Stephen S. Wu-- SL: Legal Writer, swu@svlg.com, (408) 573-5737, 50 W. San Fernando St., Ste. 750, San Jose, CA 95113

New California Law Will Change Video Game and Virtual Worlds Privacy Practices

This past week, on September 23, 2013, California Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 568, legislation enacted to protect minors online. The law is most famous for providing a so-called “Internet eraser” mechanism. The idea of this law is to give minors a chance to remove content that they regret posting later. The law also bars online services from advertising certain adult products, including alcohol, tobacco, and firearms. Click here for a copy of the new law. Read More...
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Privacy Policy Topics

Let’s say that you are developing a privacy policy for your company. What kinds of topics do you need to cover? And where do you get ideas on what to say? Read More...
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Delta Prevails in Privacy Lawsuit

I have been writing about the California Attorney General’s mobile app privacy lawsuit against Delta Airlines. The A.G. had complained that Delta failed to have a privacy policy for its mobile app. Last month, Delta prevailed in the suit, and the Court dismissed the A.G.’s complaint against it with prejudice, which means the A.G. can’t simply amend her complaint. More specifically, the Court sustained Delta’s “demurrer” in an order that dismissed the A.G.’s complaint. For a copy of the order, click here. Read More...
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Delta Seeks Dismissal of California AG Suit

In my last post about the mobile app privacy lawsuit by California’s Attorney General against Delta Airlines, I talked about the recently filed complaint in San Francisco’s Superior Court. The AG claimed that Delta Airlines violated California’s Online Privacy Protection Act by offering a mobile app, Fly Delta, that does not have a privacy policy. For a copy of the complaint, click here. Delta is now seeking dismissal of the claims in the complaint. Read More...
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California Attorney General Sues Delta Citing Lack of Privacy Policy on Mobile App

I have now written two posts -- one on October 7 and one on November 6 urging developers of mobile apps to develop and implement a privacy policy, with a supporting privacy program. At the end of October, California Attorney General Kamala Harris sent letters notifying mobile app developers that they must post their privacy policies or face enforcement actions under California’s Online Privacy Protection Act (OPPA) of 2003, which requires commercial websites or online services that obtain personally identifiable information about California consumers to post their privacy policies. On December 6, Harris filed a lawsuit in San Francisco’s Superior Court alleging that Delta Airlines failed to heed her warning and does not have a privacy policy for its mobile app Fly Delta. For a copy of the complaint, click here. Read More...
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California Attorney General Warns Apps Developers to Post Privacy Policies

On October 7, I wrote that developers of mobile apps should create, maintain, and update their privacy policies, and make sure their policies match their information practices. I cited California’s Online Privacy Protection Act (OPPA) of 2003, which requires commercial websites or online services that obtain personally identifiable information about California consumers to post their privacy policies. On October 30, California Attorney General Kamala Harris weighed in on this same issue by sending out a press release saying that she had begun notifying apps developers to post their privacy policies, citing Cal. OPPA. For a copy of the press release, click here. Read More...
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Don't Forget Your App's Privacy Policy

Last week, I gave a presentation on data breaches at the Online Trust Alliance’s Online Trust Forum 2012 in San Jose. It was a great program about mobile commerce, privacy, security, and brand protection. During the conference, one of the speakers talked about how an informal study of mobile apps showed that many apps companies do not have privacy policies. Even worse, only a small percentage of the companies have privacy policies that accurately reflect their actual practices in collecting, using, and sharing information. Companies without a privacy policy or without an accurate one are creating legal risk for themselves. Read More...
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Effect of Supreme Court Ruling on Workplace Virtual Worlds Use

On June 17, 2010, the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling in the highly-anticipated case of City of Ontario, California v. Quon. The case concerned a City of Ontario police officer, Mr. Quon, who used a City-issued pager for sending explicit text messages, and whose communications the City discovered when it audited usage in a review of the cost of the pagers. The Court ruled that the City and the police chief had not violated Mr. Quon’s Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches when it reviewed the text messages. The Court reasoned that the search and audit of the text of Quon’s communications was reasonable in scope. For a copy of the opinion, click here.
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