Duane Morris TechLaw

July 17, 2013July 18, 2016 by Eric J. Sinrod

Microsoft Settles Thousands Of Software Privacy Cases Worldwide

Microsoft is serious when it comes to software pirates. Indeed, it has just reported that it has reached settlements in more than 3,000 copyright infringement matters that it initiated globally in the past year alone.

The vast majority of the cases were international, spanning 42 countries. In fact, only 35 of the 3,265 cases were in the United States.

Microsoft states that most of its enforcement cases have been the result of tips and feedback from consumers. To drive that point home, Microsoft notes that since 2005 it has been tipped off by over 450,000 customers who disclosed counterfeited software.

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July 9, 2013July 18, 2016 by Eric J. Sinrod

COPPA Now Includes Greater Protections For Kids Online

Last week, you were informed about the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) updating advertising disclosure guidance for search engines. But there’s more! On July 1, new FTC rules went into effect that are intended to provide greater privacy protection for children online. Indeed, the rules are supposed to afford increased safeguards when it comes to data such as geo-location and social media information.

By way of background, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) became operative in 2000, in the early days of the commercial Internet. The law was designed to enable parents to control personal information collected from these young children in hopes that COPPA would prevent children under the age of 13 from being targeted via personalized online marketing messages.

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July 2, 2013July 18, 2016 by Eric J. Sinrod

FTC Updates Advertising Disclosure Guidance For Search Engines

Back at the dawn of the commercial Internet era in 2002, the Federal Trade Commission provided guidance to search engines in terms of differentiating between true search results and advertisements. However, over the past 11 years, the FTC has determined that search results and advertisements have become less distinguishable from each other.

Accordingly, in correspondence recently sent to major search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo and AOL, the FTC has updated its 2002 guidance.

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June 25, 2013July 18, 2016 by Eric J. Sinrod

White House Enlists Help To Get Hip To Cyber Legal Issues

Back in the day, President Bill Clinton touted the development of the “information superhighway,” and Vice President Al Gore not entirely accurately was reported to have stated that he had invented the Internet.

Since then, the Internet has exploded and grown exponentially. There have been many benefits, such as the potential to purchase a tremendous number of goods and services online, as well as the ability to communicate freely via social media portals such as Facebook and Twitter.

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June 20, 2013September 16, 2014 by Sandra A. Jeskie

New FTC “Red Flag Rule” Guidance to Help Fight Identity Theft

The Federal Trade Commission recently issued revised its “Red Flag Rules” guidance. The Red Flag Rules protect consumers by requiring businesses to watch for and respond to warning signs or red flags of identity theft. The guidance outlines which businesses are covered by the Rule. A copy of the guidance can be viewed at http://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus23-fighting-identity-theft-red-flags-rule-how-guide-business.

June 11, 2013July 18, 2016 by Eric J. Sinrod

DDoS Attacks, ‘Zombie’ Sites On The Rise

Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks are not hypothetical possibilities. Indeed, they have been bringing down Web sites for quite some time.

Most recently, two men in Britain have been sent to prison for their DDoS attacks perpetrated on PayPal and other sites, according to InformationWeek.

The InformationWeek article notes that six people were arrested in connection with these DDoS attacks. Three of them ultimately were charged under the United Kingdom’s Computer Misuse Act of 1990. Of these three, the head of the group received a prison sentence of 18 months, another was sentenced to seven months in jail, and the third was sentenced to six months in jail which was suspended for two years while he was ordered to serve 100 hours of community service.

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June 4, 2013July 18, 2016 by Eric J. Sinrod

New WTO Information Technology Agreement May Do Away With Duties

The imposition of duties on the global trade of technology products is significant from a monetary standpoint.

However, Reuters reports that a potential agreement among the United States, China, the European Union and almost two dozen other countries that could eliminate billions of dollars of such duties might be achieved as soon as within the next two months.

At issue is the negotiation of a possible expansion of the World Trade Organization’s Information Technology Agreement. The Agreement is a pact from the late 1990s that ended duties on a wide array of technology products. These products include laptops, computers, telephones, fax machines, software, semi-conductors and some office machines.

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May 31, 2013May 20, 2016 by Duane Morris

Duane Morris Partner Eric Sinrod to Moderate Panel on “Data Portability”

Duane Morris partner Eric Sinrod will moderate a panel on “Data Portability” at the 10th Annual Standford E-Commerce Best Practices Conference on Friday, June 28, 2013, at Stanford Law School.

The Stanford E-Commerce Best Practices Conference is the premier educational event for in-house counsel and practitioners in the e-commerce industry. Leading insiders from industry, legal practice and academia will address current issues facing the industry and offer practical solutions for dealing with the many legal uncertainties that arise when doing business online. The program will feature a roundtable of general counsel from leading e-commerce companies and will provide perspectives on a wide-range of current topics.

Click here to learn more.

May 21, 2013July 18, 2016 by Eric J. Sinrod

From Crackberry Addict To iPhone Junkie: A Lawyer’s Tale

Up until recently, and for years, I was a lawyer addicted to his BlackBerry. My BlackBerry always was on my hip, ready for immediate use. I became so proficient that I literally could type as fast with two thumbs on the device as I could with all of my fingers on my desktop keyboard at work. But other attorneys kept whispering in my ear, “Try the iPhone — once you do, you will never go back to the BlackBerry.”

So, over the New Year holiday, I tried my daughter’s iPhone. I must say, I was most intrigued by Siri and the voice-recognition feature, not to mention the much larger screen.

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