CLIP-ings: January 25, 2019

Internet Governance

Google Pays For General Data Protection Violation: The Commission nationale de l’informatique et des libertés (CNIL) fined Google 50 million for violating the GDPR by failing to meet transparency requirements regarding the use of information for ad personalization and for failing to obtain adequate user consent; Google plans to appeal the fine.   

Privacy

ACLU Brings FOIA Suit Over Government Social Media Surveillance: The American Civil Liberties Union sued seven federal agencies including the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security for failing to comply with a 2018 FOIA request seeking information about how the agencies collect and analyze information about individuals’ social media use.  

Information Security & Cyberthreats

Hacker Falsely Warns Family Of Missile Attack: A California family’s hacked Nest security camera delivered a false alert about North Korean ballistic missiles barreling towards the U.S.; in response, Nest claimed that the hack was the result of third-party activity and encouraged the use of two-factor verification to eliminate security risk.

Oklahoma Securities Commission Failed To Secure Sensitive Information: A data vulnerability within the Oklahoma Securities Commission left over three terabytes of passwords, bank transaction information, social security numbers, and emails dating back two decades available on an unprotected server and accessible to anyone with an internet connection.

Intellectual Property

Google News May Be Pulled In EU: Google is threatening to pull its News service from the EU if the EU’s controversial copyright directive, which would afford publishers the right to charge web platforms fees for showing snippets of news articles, passes; publishing lobbying groups are calling the threats “scaremongering” tactics.  

Free Expression and Censorship

Supreme Court Won’t Hear Defamatory Yelp Review Case: A case that could have affected web platforms’ legal protections under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act has been resolved after the Supreme Court declined to consider whether Yelp is required to remove defamatory reviews from its site.

Practice Note

NY Court Finds NYPD Glomar Response Impermissible: A New York State Supreme Court Justice ruled that the NYPD’s Glomar response to a FOIL request for information about police monitoring of Black Lives Matter activists’ social-media accounts was “impermissible” because it “would effectively eliminate any oversight over [the Department’s] handling of protesters” and “runs counter to the very purpose of freedom of information statutes.”

On The Lighter Side

ClickToPray With The Pope: During his traditional Sunday address, Pope Francis launched an app that allows people to “pray together with others,” scroll through other users’ prayers, and leave comments.  


Joel R. Reidenberg
Stanley D. and Nikki Waxberg Chair and Professor of Law
Founding Academic Director, Fordham CLIP

Tom Norton 
Executive Director, Fordham CLIP

Praatika Prasad
Quinn Nicholas D’Isa 
Editorial Fellows, Fordham CLIP