MoFo Tech

February 02, 2018 - Regulatory, Telecommunications
Catching Up? A New Consumer Protection Cooperation Regime for the EU
By: Alistair Maughan, Stephan Kreß and Kristina Ehle
The European Union (“EU”) has long had a focus on consumer protection of EU residents. A new proposed EU regulation is set to improve the cross-border enforcement regime for consumer protection legislation. The new rules will give more teeth to national authorities in EU
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January 18, 2018 - Regulatory, Financings
Proceed To Check Out? The Impact Of 2018 European E-Commerce Reforms
By: Alistair Maughan, Kristina Ehle and Sana Ashcroft
The European Union (EU) has made reform of the e-commerce rules in Europe one of its main priorities for 2018. The European Commission has already published two proposed Directives relating to cross-border e-commerce but legislative progress has been slow – a situation that the
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January 09, 2018 - Regulatory, Intellectual Property
Regulatory Changes Ahead: The 2018 Landscape for Technology Businesses in Europe
By: Alistair Maughan
The European Union’s annual Work Programme states that, in 2018, the European Commission will prioritize the following technology issues: Establishing a regulatory framework for online communications; Reforming copyrights in the digital single market (DSM); Regulating contracts that concern the supply of digital content; Preventing
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March 06, 2017 - Regulatory, Fintech
UK Regulations: Urgent Action Required from Loan-Based Crowdfunding Platforms
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a “Dear CEO” letter on February 28, 2017 requiring urgent action from firms operating loan-based crowdfunding platforms that facilitate loans to lending businesses. UK-based crowdfunding platforms and some of their borrowers that fail to act may be
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March 02, 2017 - Regulatory, Hardware
Watch Out: The Federal Trade Commission Continues to Watch the (Alleged) Watchers
By: Julie O'Neill
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleges in a recent settlement with smart TV manufacturer Vizio, Inc. that it unfairly and deceptively collected, disclosed, and used TV viewer information for advertising practices in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act. The Decision Reinforces the
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February 23, 2017 - Regulatory
Don’t Get Caught by the Phisherman’s Hook This Tax Season
By: Miriam H. Wugmeister and Robert J. Baehr
During last year’s tax season, the IRS warned of a 400% increase in phishing and malware attacks, which contributed to an estimated $21 billion of taxpayer money lost to fraudulent tax returns. This was up from about $6.5 billion lost in 2014. Studies of
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February 17, 2017 - Regulatory, Litigation
Court Allows Microsoft to Challenge Secrecy of User Data Requests
In the ongoing debate over government access to private communications the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington rejected a Government motion to dismiss a suit by Microsoft challenging the constitutionality of certain secrecy provisions of the Stored Communications Act (SCA).
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February 13, 2017 - Regulatory, Litigation, Cloud Services + SaaS
Google Ordered to Comply with Warrant for Foreign-Stored User Data
In an opinion that departs significantly from one issued by the Second Circuit in 2016 in a similar case against Microsoft , the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania held that Google must comply with a subpoena from the Department of
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January 01, 2017 - Regulatory
Cross-Border Information Sharing for Effective Services
By: Miriam H. Wugmeister
Navigating privacy laws is particularly challenging for multinational companies with affiliates in the European Economic Area (EEA) that share personal information with service providers outside the EEA. All EEA member countries impose restrictions on the sharing of personal information outside the EEA because their
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December 23, 2016 - Regulatory, Internet of Things
The Unblinking Eye: Employee Monitoring in the IoT Era
Privacy concerns raised by the Internet of Things (IoT) have focused mostly on the consumer, whose personal data is captured in a growing list of places. Less attention has been paid to the privacy of employees interacting with increasingly prevalent IoT in the workplace.
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