Consumer Data Privacy in the Merger/Acquisition Context: What's an Acquiring Mind to Do?
October 19, 2006
Current wisdom favors non-disclosure of the private data related to consumers held by companies that obtain such data in the course of doing business. This sentiment is in full blossom in a wide variety of contexts, not the least of which are the provision of medical services and of financial services. In these heavily regulated industries, protection of consumer data is the subject of complex regulatory schemes aimed at ensuring data privacy and security while, nonetheless, allowing business to be conducted in its ordinary course.
Lessons Learned: Issues Exposed in the Aftermath of the Hewlett-Packard Debacle
October 19, 2006
On Sept. 5, 2006, <i>Newsweek</i> published a story about Hewlett-Packard's Chairman Patricia Dunn's use of a private investigation firm to locate the source of leaks of confidential corporate information. As the story unfolded, the public learned the following: After confidential information appeared in news publications in 2005, certain officers and certain members of the board of directors of Hewlett-Packard ('HP') authorized the launch of two investigations, the first in 2005, and the next in 2006, to locate the source of the information leaks. The basis for the investigations was that the information leaked to the press was known only to board members. Certain officers and directors collectively comprised the 'HP investigation team' in the secret investigation of the leaks to the media. In devising its plan, the HP investigation team sought the assistance of a top investigator, Ron DeLia, head of Security OutSourcing Solutions, Inc. ('SOS'), with whom Hewlett-Packard previously had worked on unrelated matters. DeLia allegedly encouraged the HP investigation team to use pretexting or 'social engineering' to obtain private cell phone and phone records of certain targeted individuals, among other things.
<b>Online Exclusive:</b> Privacy Policies Must Be Clear
October 18, 2006
All reputable Web sites have privacy policies that include a promise that the operator will not share the personal data of its users without their prior, express consent. But many Web sites also offer visitors an opportunity to receive additional information from third parties through some type of an opt-in agreement. An Oregon court was recently called upon to decide whether the language of an opt-in was clear enough to inform Web site users that their personal information would be shared.
<b>Online Exclusive:</b> Spam Database Leader Spamhaus Struggles Against Suspension
October 16, 2006
Spamhaus, one of the leading compilers of databases of spammers, dodged a bullet at least temporarily when the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ('ICANN') declined to comply with a request from a U.S. district court to suspend the domain name spamhaus.org. Yet, Spamhaus still has struggles ahead in its battle with e360 Insight, an e-mail marketing company that won a summary judgment in a lawsuit after Spamhaus put e360 Insight on its list of suspected spammers.
<b>Online Exclusive:</b> Security Breach Class Action Thrown Out of U.S. District Court
October 16, 2006
A decision by a U.S. district court during the week of Oct. 9, 2006 potentially limits the scope of class action complaints that can be filed in the wake of electronic security breaches of personally identifying information. Judge William Wilson of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas threw out a class action lawsuit filed against database operator Acxiom on the grounds that the plaintiff could not show actual harm from the breach.
Lawsuit Could Clarify What Is Original in the Art World
September 29, 2006
It is a well-settled copyright axiom that only an original expression of an idea is protectable. In the world of fine art, however, the concept of 'original expression' is often too vague to be defined. Dale Chihuly, a world famous glass artist known for designs inspired by sea life, filed a lawsuit in October 2005 that may clarify the concept. He is fighting to protect his distinctive style of glass art in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. Chihuly has accused former employee Brian Rubino of producing glass sculptures that infringe Chihuly's copyright-protected glass works. The suit also asserts that another individual, Robert Kaindl, is selling Rubino's copycat sculptures at prices below market value, thus injuring the market value of true Chihuly sculptures.
Workshare Does Its Share to Secure Your Documents
September 29, 2006
Although most law firms use massive deployments of traditional security solutions to lock down their office systems, networks, and all of their stored content, most of them still struggle with the massive loads of shared electronic documents that flood their corporate network, the Internet, the e-mail system and all of their portable storage devices.
Kirton & McConkie Ease E-mail Pains
September 29, 2006
Salt Lake City's Kirton & McConkie faced a critical communications issue. With 87 attorneys and additional support staff all using e-mail as a primary method to communicate with internal staff, clients, investigators and others essential to our cases, e-mail is the most important record for all types of data. We were using a backup product to perform a full database backup on the weekends, and incremental backups during the week on our Exchange server; however, the tape backup software didn't allow us to easily search and retrieve e-mail messages and attachments. Additionally, the need for large mailboxes (sometimes as big as 2 or 3 gigabytes), as well as increased e-mail activity, had caused our Exchange database to grow to an unmanageable 120 GB. We couldn't reduce e-mail service, as partners and staff relied on e-mail as the primary communications tool to handle cases. But, the risk of losing pertinent information was oppressive, and managing e-mail data and maintaining seamless access to archived information became a mission-critical task for IT services.
Net News
September 29, 2006
E-mail on Employer's Computer Protected by Attorney Client Privilege<br>Anticybersquatting Claim Survives in Case Involving Famed Retailer <br>Inaccessible Retail Web Sites Violate ADA
