Internet Governance
FTC Orders Broadband Providers To Reveal Their Data Collection Practices: The Federal Trade Commission ordered seven major broadband providers to disclose internal documents about their collection, retention, use, and disclosure of American customers’ personal information to “better understand Internet service providers’ privacy practices.”
HUD Charges Facebook With Housing Discrimination: Just a week after settling multiple lawsuits alleging that its targeted advertising practices are discriminatory, Facebook now faces new charges brought by the Department of Housing and Urban Development that allege that the social network’s targeted advertising system violates the Fair Housing Act.
Privacy
Family Tracking App Leaks Users’ Real-Time Locations: A backend database for popular family tracking app Family Locator was left unprotected, making users’ real-time locations and personal information—including photos and plaintext passwords—easily accessible by anyone who knew where to look; it is unclear how long the database was exposed before it was pulled offline.
Information Security & Cyberthreats
Hackers Used ASUS Software Update Tool To Push Malware: Hackers compromised the update server of computer hardware company ASUS and pushed malware to hundreds of thousands of users’ computers through a seemingly authentic but malicious software update signed with the company’s legitimate digital certificates.
Intellectual Property
EU Passes Controversial Copyright Reform: The European Parliament voted in favor of new copyright rules that will require online platforms to sign licensing agreements with publishers before exhibiting their work and implement procedures to prevent users from uploading copyrighted content.
Free Expression & Censorship
Facebook Shifts Policy On Nationalist Content: Facebook has started banning content that “glorifies” white nationalist and separatist views on the basis that such content is “deeply linked to organized hate groups”; although Facebook has already banned white supremacy, it has until now allowed nationalist and separatist content to protect “broader concepts of nationalism and separatism – things like American pride.”
Practice Note
Grindr Protected By Section 230: The Second Circuit affirmed dismissal of a suit against Grindr brought by a victim who alleged that his former boyfriend created fake profiles on the app to harass him; the court found that the claims, which sought to hold Grindr liable for its “failure to combat or remove offensive third‐party content,” were barred by section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
On the Lighter Side
We Know You’ll Have Fries With That: McDonald’s plans to roll out new A.I. features to promote different offerings based on factors such as time and weather and to create personalized menus based on customers’ order history.
Joel R. Reidenberg Stanley D. and Nikki Waxberg Chair and Professor of Law Founding Academic Director, Fordham CLIP Tom Norton Executive Director, Fordham CLIP |
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| Praatika Prasad Quinn Nicholas D’Isa Editorial Fellows, Fordham CLIP |