The New York Department of Financial Services is now permitting life insurance companies to utilize social media data when establishing risk. This new approach moves past the traditional blood and urine samples used to set premium rates.… Read More @Life: Your Life Insurance Company Has Requested to Follow You

This blog addresses the amendments to the Massachusetts Data Breach Notification Act promulgated in House Bill 4806. The bill provides new regulations that entities that have experienced a data breach must abide by. … Read More Damage Control: New Massachusetts Bill Expands What Must be Reported to Regulators After a Data Breach

Data privacy is a growing issue within the United States. Some companies have claimed to be protecting their users from such issues, but is that really true?… Read More Apple claims it is protecting my data, but is it?

A look at House Democrat’s recent demand for the FCC to appear before them for questioning. Members of the House have accused the FCC of “dragging its feet” in combating developments that telecommunications companies have improperly sold consumer location data to third parties. … Read More Why are Companies Not Being Held Accountable for Misuse of Our Location Data?

Celebrities are suing the makers of Fortnite for alleged copyright infringement regarding the use of their famous dance moves. Epic Games sells dances for Fortnite players to use in connection with the game’s characters, leading the individuals who created the dance moves to file suit in California this past December. So far, Epic Games has been sued by Alfonso Ribiero, 2 Milly, and the Backpack Kid.… Read More The Creators of Fortnite Have Danced Their Way Into Copyrighted Territory

By Carly Uliss Since the creation of Uber in 2009, the number of people who partake and use this ride-sharing app has increased dramatically. Over the past few years, the percentage of people using these types of apps has increased from 15% to 36% since 2015. As the number of users continues to grow, so… Read More The Battle of Privacy and Transparency involving Uber Driver’s Identities

The proliferation of virtual reality has been remarkable in recent years, but users must be cautious of how to protect themselves and their personal information. … Read More Let’s Get Real: What Privacy Protections Do Users of Virtual Reality Actually Have?

Scientists have been in the process of developing lab-grown meat using stem cells from animals instead of slaughtering animals. The use of stem cells could assist the federal government’s goal of ensuring that meat products are safe but will require federal agencies to reform the current regulations to produce meat and poultry.… Read More Fresh Out of the Petri Dish: Choosing to Lab-Grow Meat Over Animal Farming?

As the number of states that ban texting while driving increase (47 out of 50 as of Jan 2019), drivers and law enforcement officers must be knowledgeable about what phone functions are permitted while driving and which are prohibited. A recent case in Oregon underscores the importance of knowing the distinction, and it provides an example of how one panel of state appellate judges evaluated the pre-vehicle stop observations of the law enforcement officers to determine if probable cause existed for stopping a driver.… Read More A Quick Drive Through the Intersection of Mobile Phones and Probable Cause.

This blog aims to address the confusion arising from the interpretation of the “aggrieved by” standard under the Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”). Two significant cases have arisen that challenge the current interpretation of BIPA, which is that a technical violation of the statute is not sufficient to be an aggrieved person. … Read More BIPA: Grievances of the Aggrieved

This blog addresses a new shortcut for the iPhone called “Police.” Upon telling Siri that you are getting pulled over, your phone will go into do not disturb mode, it will send a message to a preferred contact, and lower down all music. Even further, it will take a recording of the entire encounter and afterwards, will upload to a cloud or be sent to a preferred person. This blog will address if this shortcut will help people prove their “version of events” during a police encounter. … Read More Filling in the Gaps: “Hey Siri, I’m getting pulled over.”

MIT researchers have developed a faster process of “frequency hopping,” which will prevent hackers from being able to compromise information being transferred across various channels on the Internet. If this technology were to be implemented into consumer devices, how would it play out if a data breach still occurs?… Read More MIT Researchers Create Technology to Thwart Hackers While Data is Being Transferred Across the Web, but How Secure is it?

Oracle, among other companies, has been asked by the European Union to research and develop a technology that can expedite transportation. With cloud technology, Oracle is helping to create an online e-marketplace where travelers can do anything necessary to their journey, all in one place.… Read More i-Travel: Is the Future of International Travel Riding the Cloud?

By Jocelyn Brisebois In October 2018, Massachusetts legislators passed a law requiring school districts to begin testing students for dyslexia. In practice, supporters hope for dyslexia screening to replicate the screening process used for vision and hearing testing of students in public school districts. The purpose of the law is to ensure early identification and… Read More School District Implementation of New Massachusetts Dyslexia Screening Law: The Use of Developing Technology to Accurately Diagnose Dyslexia

Recently, the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral arguments in a case that could change how class-action damages from tech giants can be awarded—but standing issues may lurk! … Read More Where William the Conqueror, Google, and Article 3 Standing Intersect: Cy Pres Settlement at Issue Before the Supreme Court of the United States.

In this blog, I discuss the legal market and our customer’s roles in leading that market. In part, my blog is a criticism on the conventional lawyer by challenging their empathy, and I offer Design Thinking as a tactic to solve problems. … Read More Traits of the Next Generation of Lawyer; Why Design Thinking Matters

Unfortunately, there has been a wave of school shootings in the United States in the past twenty to thirty years. There has been significant debate after each school shooting regarding the causes of such heinous acts. One debate centers around the effect that violent video games may have on individuals. Some studies suggest that violent video games cause aggressive behavior, leading to violence by players of those games. Other studies suggest the complete opposite, that video games do not cause individuals to commit school shootings.… Read More Are Violent Video Games to Blame for the Wave of Gun Violence in Schools?

The Music Modernization Act (MMA) unanimously passed in both the House and Senate, and was officially signed into law by the President on October 11th, 2018. The act revamps Section 115 of the U.S. Copyright Act. The Act now accounts for Digital Media services. Music Licensing and Royal Payments are now more streamlined for artists, as well. This has been one of the greatest legal changes to Copyright I.P. in over 40 years. … Read More Let’s Get Digital: How Copyright Law Is Changing The Way The Music Industry is Affected By Digital Media Services

By Meghan Huggan Ad fraud is one of the world’s most lucrative forms of criminality today. According to Juniper Research, “advertisers will lose an estimated $19 billion to fraudulent activities next year, equivalent to $51 million per day. This figure, representing advertising on online and mobile devices, will continue to rise, reaching $44 billion by… Read More FBI Investigation Finds 8 People Responsible for Stealing Tens of Millions of Dollars in Ad-Fraud Scheme

A person’s Facebook page holds a surprising amount of personal information. We log in multiple times daily assuming everything is protected and running smoothly. However, one morning you wake up to a notification stating that you have been logged out. Password changed. Email changed. Now what?… Read More “Sorry, Something Went Wrong:” Should Social Media Users Be Worried About Identity Theft?