Initial Reactions to Riley v. California

Yesterday, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that police must obtain a warrant prior to searching the cell phones of the people they arrest in Riley v. California. In an opinion widely heralded as a resounding victory for privacy in the digital age, Chief Justice Roberts wrote: Our answer to the question of what police must do before searching a cell phone seized incident to an arrest is accordingly simple—get a warrant. Much has already been written about the landmark decision. Here are some initial reactions to Riley from the law and technology...

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Spring Edition of CCR's Massive Round-Up of New Law Articles on the CFAA, Cybercrime, Privacy, 4th Amendment, Surveillance, and more

Some impressive articles have been published since the last round-up I did in February; if you missed that post, see: Massive round-up of new law articles, covering privacy, Fourth Amendment, GPS, cell site, cybercrime, big data, revenge porn, drones, and more.  New Legal Scholarship (with abstracts where available) Orin S. Kerr, The Next Generation Communications Privacy Act, 162 U. Pa. L. Rev. 373 (2014) In 1986, Congress enacted the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) to regulate government access to Internet communications...

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Must Read Law Review Article -- Personal Curtilage: Fourth Amendment Security in Public

Andrew Guthrie Ferguson has a new law review article in the April 2014 issue (Vol. 55, No. 4) of William & Mary Law Review, entitled: Personal Curtilage: Fourth Amendment Security in Public. The abstract is below: Do citizens have any Fourth Amendment protection from sense-enhancing surveillance technologies in public? This Article engages a timely question as new surveillance technologies have redefined expectations of privacy in public spaces. It proposes a new theory of Fourth Amendment security based on the ancient theory of curtilage...

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Supreme Court News: Reply Briefs Filed (Apr. 22nd) in Fourth Amendment Cell Phone Cases (Wurie and Riley); Oral Arugment Next Week

In Riley v. California, Petitioner David Leon Riley has filed his reply brief. The cases is summarized by SCOTUSblog as follows: Issue: Whether evidence admitted at petitioner's trial was obtained in a search of petitioner's cell phone that violated petitioner's Fourth Amendment rights. In United States v. Wurie, Petitioner United States has filed its reply brief. SCOTUSblog's summary: Issue: Whether the Fourth Amendment permits the police, without obtaining a warrant, to review the call log of a cellphone found on a person who has been lawfully...

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Privacy, Hacking, and Information Security Tools: A Primer for Legal Professionals (Part I)

I thought it might be useful to describe some commonly used tools in the Information Security sphere that should be on every attorney's radar, for myriad reasons. Perhaps you are defending a client who has used such a tool; or, you wish to uphold your obligations under the Model Rules to truly make your attorney-client communications confidential. This may become a multi-part post, given the plethora of tools out there (and further posts will, to...

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Featured Article: Hacktivism and the First Amendment: Drawing the Line Between Cyber Protests and Crime

Volume 27 of the Harvard Journal of Law & Technology features a student Note by Xiang Li that addresses some of the First Amendment implications of "hacktivism," which Li broadly defined as the “combination of grassroots political protest with computer hacking through the nonviolent use of illegal or legally ambiguous digital tools [to pursue] political ends." Li's Note, Hacktivism and the First Amendment: Drawing the Line Between Cyber Protests and Crime, argues that while hacktivist activities my not squarely fit within the purview of...

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BREAKING: Third Circuit vacates conviction in United States v. Auernheimer due to improper venue

The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has just announced that the conviction of Andrew Auernheimer (known by many as Weev) has been reversed on venue grounds. The opinion states (emphasis added): This case calls upon us to determine whether venue for  Andrew Auernheimer’s prosecution for conspiracy to violate  the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”), 18 U.S.C. § 1030, and identity fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1028(a)(7) was proper in the District of New Jersey. Venue in criminal cases is more than a technicality;...

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Featured Article: The Internet and the Constitution: A Selective Retrospective

The Honorable M. Margaret McKeown of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has a rather interesting article appearing in volume 9 of the Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts. In her article, The Internet and the Constitution: A Selective Retrospective, Judge McKeown examines the complexities of the Internet and its associated innovations from a legal perspective, from the many jurisdictional and due process challenges, to the implications on the First Amendment and free speech. Judge McKeown's story of "institutional...

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WI governor signs revenge porn and social media privacy bills into law; privacy bill raises questions

(Update 1: Included link and excerpt from Rep. Sargent's Op-Ed when the bill was introduced, and further comments - to provide some context) Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin signed 62 bills into law today, including SB223 (relating to social media privacy) and SB367 (revenge porn). A full list of the bills he signed can be found here: At a glance: List of 62 bills Gov. Walker signed, and regarding the two bills mentioned above: Senate Bill 223 – prohibits employers, educational institutions and landlords from requesting or requiring passwords...

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Court Rules in Favor of FTC, Wyndham Must Face Suit Over Data Breach

Today, a ruling was issued in FTC v. Wyndham Worldwide Corp. The court denied Wyndham's motion to dismiss, rejecting its argument that the Federal Trade Commission does not have authority under Section 5 of the FTC Act to regulate data security practices across all industries. The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey declined to carve out a data-security exception to the FTC's broad regulatory authority under Section 5. It also refused to require the FTC to promulgate data security regulations before bringing "unfairness" claims...

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Undeterred by Challenges to its Authority, FTC Settles Data Security Actions with Credit Karma and Fandango

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has settled two more enforcement actions with companies that failed to adequately safeguard consumers’ personal information, despite challenges to its authority to regulate data security practices. Credit Karma and Fandango Settle FTC Charges Last week, the FTC announced that credit monitoring service Credit Karma and movie ticket outlet Fandango entered into settlement agreements that will require the companies to submit to 20 years of independent security audits, improve security measures, and refrain from...

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Cybercrime Review welcomes Natalie Nicol as a guest writer

I am excited to welcome Natalie Nicol as a guest writer for Cybercrime Review. She hopes to contribute to the blog regularly. Natalie received her J.D. from University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 2013. During law school, Natalie worked at the Digital Media Law Project, a project of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University; the Electronic Frontier Foundation; and the First Amendment Project. She served as the symposium editor for the Hastings Communication and Entertainment Law Journal, and presented...

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