A New Jersey court recently held that a teacher who accessed and printed a co-worker’s personal email after the coworker left the computer without signing out of her account was not guilty of a crime. By Alice Cheng In Marcus v. Rogers, 2012 WL 2428046 (N.J.Super.A.D. June 28, 2012), a New Jersey court held that a defendant was not in violation of any laws when he snooped through the emails of a coworker who had forgotten to sign out of a shared computer. The defendant, a te

The Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 83 governs property transferred to an employee in connection with the performance of services. Currently, the section states that such transfers of property (typically restricted stock or stock options) are subject to federal income tax when the property is no longer subject to a substantial risk of forfeiture; however, new regulations will go into effect on January 1, 2013. By Alice Cheng On May 29, 2012, the Internal Revenue Service (

All companies, big and small, are at risk for data breaches. Most companies have legal obligations with respect to the integrity and confidentiality of certain information in its possession. Information privacy and security is essential to protect your business, safeguard your customers’ privacy, and secure your company’s vital information. Recently, hackers gained access to Yahoo’s databases, exposing over 450,000 usernames and passwords to Yahoo, Gmail, AOL, Hotmail, Co

If your password looks something like “123456,” you might want to change it. By Alice Cheng Late Wednesday evening, hackers successfully breached Yahoo! security published a list of unencrypted emails and passwords. The list exposed the login information of more than 450,000 Yahoo! users. The hackers, who call themselves the D33D Company, explained that they obtained the passwords by using an SQL injection vulnerability—a technique that is often used to make online databases

Pending approval by Governor Christie, New Jersey will adopt a new set of laws pertaining to the formation and operation of limited liability companies. By Joseph Olender In 2011, the New Jersey Assembly proposed Bill No. 1543, which would change the way that limited liability companies (LLCs) in the state are created and operate. The bill was created in an attempt to fill gaps in New Jersey law regarding the operation of LLCs, as well as to update existing law that had becom

The NTIA’s first multistakeholder meeting on mobile privacy focused on ways to improve the transparency of the privacy practices of mobile apps. By Alice Cheng On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) held a public meeting in Washington, D.C., to discuss mobile privacy. After taking public comment in March on consumer data privacy, the NTIA decided to address mobile app transparency in its first privacy m

Survey finds that only 61.3% of apps have privacy policies, reflecting perceived need for increased app privacy regulations. By Alice Cheng A recent survey conducted by the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) examined whether popular free and paid mobile apps provided users with access to a privacy policy visit this website. The survey found that 61.3% of the 150 apps examined had a privacy policy, while more free apps than paid apps had privacy policies. While the numbers of apps

Several House lawmakers have sent letters to nine major data broker firms, seeking transparency on data practices. By Alice Cheng Last week, eight House members, including Congressional Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus chairmen Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Joe Barton (R-Tex.), sent letters to nine major data broker firms, asking for information on how they collect, assemble, maintain, and sell consumer information to third parties. The letter references a recent New York Times article p

The Federal Trade Commission has proposed revisions that will bring the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act in line with 21st century technology, largely targeting social networks and online advertisers. By Alice Cheng Based on comments solicited last year, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has posted proposed revisions to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The Act, which has not been updated since its inception in 1998, may be extended to include soc