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Ireland’s Data Privacy Commissioner will reportedly fine Instagram for its handling of children’s data. According to an investigation that began in 2020, Instagram published emails and phone numbers for children ages 13 to 17 who operated business accounts. Business accounts typically post this information by default. Meta, Instagram’s parent, plans to appeal the €405 million…

The United Kingdom data privacy watchdog reports that the number of complaints received since the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) took effect three months ago has almost doubled.  Under GDPR, anyone who believes their personal data has been misused can file a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office, or ICO.

Legal Experts say GDPR…

Last week, the High Court of Ireland submitted eleven questions to the Court of Justice for the European Union (CJEU) to consider about the personal data transfer regime between the European Union (EU) and the United States. This referral stems from a new claim by Max Schrems, an Austrian lawyer and privacy activist. Schrems previously …

On March 23, 2018, the President signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 (H.R. 1625), an omnibus spending bill that includes the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act (the CLOUD Act). Among other provisions, the CLOUD Act amends the Stored Communications Act of 1986 (18 U.S.C. §§ 2701-2712, hereinafter the…

In an order issued on October 16, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in United States v. Microsoft Corporation, a case with potentially far-reaching implications for the privacy of electronic data maintained by technology companies across the globe.

The case, which Robinson+Cole has previously discussed here, here, and here, arises from a warrant obtained by the Department of Justice (DOJ) under the Stored Communications Act (SCA).[1] The SCA was enacted in 1986 to protect the privacy of electronic communications, including by extending privacy protections to electronic records analogous to those afforded under the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.[2] In relevant part, the SCA requires a governmental entity in most instances to secure a warrant in accordance with the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure to compel disclosure of electronic communications stored by a service provider.[3]
Continue Reading Supreme Court to Hear Microsoft Emails Case

On June 23, 2017, the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the United States Supreme Court requesting reversal of a 2016 decision in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit quashed a warrant obtained by the Department of Justice (DOJ) under the Stored Communications Act (SCA) seeking the contents of a Microsoft customer’s emails.

In its July, 2016 decision in United States v. Microsoft Corp., a Second Circuit panel unanimously held that the DOJ’s attempt to procure the contents of the emails – which allegedly pertained to illegal drug trafficking – via an SCA warrant constituted an impermissible extraterritorial application of the SCA because the server on which the emails were stored was located in Ireland. The Second Circuit subsequently denied a request for an en banc rehearing in January, 2017 (see previous analysis of that denial here).
Continue Reading Solicitor General Urges Supreme Court Review of Second Circuit Microsoft Decision

On December 6, 2016, The Electronic Privacy Information Center, The Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood, The Center for Digital Democracy and Consumers Union filed a Complaint and Request for Investigation, Injunction and Other Relief (Complaint) with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against Genesis Toys (Genesis) and Nuance Communications (Nuance) regarding alleged violations of the…