On April 25, a federal magistrate judge ruled that Microsoft must disclose to U.S. federal investigators the contents of a customer’s email account stored outside of the United States. Microsoft had previously complied with portions of a search warrant seeking certain other information related to the targeted email account, but the company moved to quash the […]
Litigation
New York Court Upholds Constitutionality of NSA Metadata Collection
On December 27, ruling in American Civil Liberties Union v Clapper, No. 13 Civ. 9334 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 27, 2013), federal district Judge William H. Pauley III granted the government’s motion to dismiss a complaint brought by the ACLU challenging the constitutionality of the NSA’s bulk collection of telephone metadata. Telephone metadata consists of the record […]
NSA Collection of Metadata Ruled Unconstitutional
On December 16, Federal District Judge for the District of Columbia Richard Leon held the National Security Administration’s collection of telephone metadata to be an unconstitutional invasion of privacy under the Fourth Amendment. Previous challenges to governmental collection of telephone metadata have met with failure, and the ruling marks the first time a federal court […]
Fifth Circuit Revives Banks’ Heartland Data Breach Claims
In Lone Star Nat’l Bank, N.A., et al. v. Heartland Payment Sys., Inc., No. 12-20648 (5th Cir. Sept. 3, 2013) (hereinafter “Heartland”), arising from the now-infamous 2008 data breach, the Fifth Circuit recently reversed a motion to dismiss, finding that the economic loss doctrine did not apply and that various credit card issuers could state […]
Illinois District Court Dismisses Data Breach Claims for Lack of Standing
In In re Barnes & Noble Pin Pad Litigation, No. 1:12-cv-08617 (N.D. Ill. Sept. 3, 2013), the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois dismissed a putative class action against defendant retailer Barnes & Noble because the named plaintiffs could not establish injury in fact stemming from the alleged security breach, and […]