Balough
December 23, 2013
In a win for privacy rights and a setback for Google, the Ninth Circuit agreed that unencrypted Wi-Fi is protected from outside snooping under the federal Wiretap Act. When Google sent vehicles out to take pictures for its Street View search feature, the vehicles not only captured the street images but also captured data from […]
Balough
December 22, 2013
The collection and use of an app user’s personal information, including the user’s location, without his or her consent does not violate the user’s right to privacy under the California Constitution, the Stored Communications Act, the Federal Wiretap Act, or the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. However, the use may violate California’s unfair competition law, […]
Balough
December 15, 2013
A former wife who bugged a teddy bear to record her ex’s conversations with their child violated the federal Wiretap Act, a Nebraska district court ruled. Dianna Divingnzzo wanted to obtain full custody of her daughter, Ellenna, so she planted a recording device in her then 4-year-old daughter’s teddy bear. She then told her ex-husband […]
Balough
December 13, 2013
The National Security Agency’s program to intercept without warrant or judicial approval international telephone calls and internet communications of U.S. citizens violates the U.S. Constitution, a federal district court ruled. The judge found that the secret program–designated “TSP” in the opinion–violates the Separation of Powers doctrine, the First and Fourth Amendments of the Constitution and […]
Balough
December 12, 2013
If the young lovers talked during sex and the video recorder captured the sound, then the recording violates the federal wiretapping statute, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled. When she was 16, the plaintiff had consensual sex with a 17-year-old. He videotaped the act. After they stopped dating, he circulated the tape at their […]
Balough
December 7, 2013
In the courts’ continuing struggle with email, the First Circuit has ruled that the federal Wiretap Act does prohibit viewing emails that are in temporary storage before they are delivered. Court have been struggling over whether “intercept” under the Wiretap Act, 18 U.S.C. Sec. 801-804, makes illegal the reading of emails in temporary storage as […]
Balough
December 7, 2013
If your car’s on-board emergency assistance system doesn’t work when you need roadside assistance, maybe you should call the FBI. That’s because up until a recent court decision barring the practice, the FBI has been able to obtain warrants to listen in on in-car conversations through the roadside assistance devices installed in luxury cars. The […]
Balough
December 5, 2013
If you have a password protected website and someone gains access to it, they have violated the federal Wiretap and Stored Communications Acts, right? Don’t count on it anymore. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit says that such action does not violate the federal Wiretap Act and may not violate the Stored […]
