As we turn the page on 2018, let’s reflect on some of the key privacy and cybersecurity issues that will continue to occupy our hearts and minds in 2019.

Owning the Mega-Breach

2018 was the year in which data breaches in mergers and acquisitions became the iceberg in full view. This fuller realization of cyber risk in transactions, though, actually has its origin in September 2016 – when Yahoo and Marriott were in the midst of deals that would involve some of the largest data breaches on record.
Continue Reading  Some Thoughts on the Year in Privacy and Data Security Law

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently issued a sweeping ruling “that accessing any information from a cell phone without a warrant” violates the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. In Commonwealth v. Fulton, the Court suppressed the warrantless search of the contents of a ‘flip phone’ and reversed a murder conviction that flowed from the unlawful search.  The Supreme Court held that the Superior Court’s decision contravened U.S. Supreme Court precedent in Riley v. California and United States v. Wurie, 134 S. Ct. 2473 (2014), holding that searches of cell phones generally require a warrant.

In June 2010, Philadelphia Police arrested I. Dean Fulton and three others on suspicion of unlawful drug activity and gun possession. They seized Fulton’s “smart phone” from his body at the time of the arrest.  They subsequently obtained a search warrant for the vehicle Fulton and the others were in at the time of their arrests.  That search turned up a firearm, a holster, three cell phones and other property.  The cell phones – which included one ‘flip phone’ later connected to Fulton –were provided to the Homicide Division, which was investigating a recent drug-related murder. 
Continue Reading  Pennsylvania Supreme Court:  If You Want to Search a Cell Phone, Get a Warrant!

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments this morning in United States v. Microsoft, No. 17-2, which presents the question whether a United States court may issue a search warrant to a U.S.-based electronic communications service for email account data held on a server outside of the United States.

Here’s the transcript of this

For those of you heading to Legaltech in New York next week, please join me and a great panel for what promises to be a lively discussion of hot topics in IoT and Mobile Discovery.  I’ve been fortunate enough to have been included in Relativity’s session on this topic at a number of conferences, and

2018 is shaping up to be a potentially momentous year for data privacy, with a number of pending cases whose impact could fundamentally alter the scope of future privacy lawsuits and criminal investigations. This post will take a look at some of these cases and their potential impact.

Carpenter v. United States

We’ll start with Carpenter, which is pending in the U.S. Supreme Court and focuses on whether the Fourth Amendment requires the government to secure a search warrant to obtain a criminal defendant’s cell phone records from his or her cellular service provider.
Continue Reading  Data Privacy Cases to Watch in 2018