GDPR: One Year On
The 25th of May, 2019 marked a year since the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) came into force. For most in privacy, involvement with the GDPR has been ongoing for well over this year, but on the first anniversary of the GDPR we take an opportunity to look back and reflect on where we are now in relation to some key areas of interest including enforcement action, privacy litigation, breach notification and developing guidance from the European Data Protection Board (“EDPB”).
New Case Sheds Further Light on the Definition of Autodialer under the TCPA
Ever since the D.C. Circuit struck down the FCC’s overbroad rule defining “auto-dialers” under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, district courts have debated the scope of the D.C. Circuit’s ruling: Did it effectively strike down earlier FCC pronouncements on what qualifies as an auto-dialer? In a carefully reasoned opinion, a district court judge in Chicago held last week that it did. (more…)
Lessons for California Business Over Recorded Phone Calls
*This article originally appeared in L.A. Biz at bizjournals.com on Oct. 11, 2016.
Over the past few months, Taylor Swift and Kanye West’s feud over a recorded phone call has put the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) in the spotlight.
Who can record a call? What type of consent is needed? These questions are not just fodder for celebrity tabloids but fundamentally important issues for companies recording customer service calls.
CIPA, codified in California’s Penal Code Section 630 et seq., is an invasion of privacy statute originally designed to restrict wire-tapping and the recording of calls snatched from the airways at the dawn of the wireless telephone industry.
However, in recent years, plaintiffs’ lawyers have embraced Section 632.7 of the Act as a sword to attack companies that record customer service calls.
Federal Trade Commission Bans Certain Payment Methods Under Telemarketing Sales Rule
On November 18, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued final amendments to the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) banning payment methods that the FTC believes are disproportionately used by scammers (the Final Rule). The Final Rule follows the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that the FTC published on July 9, 2013. While the Final Rule makes some modifications to the proposed amendments to the TSR that were included in the NPRM, the NPRM was not modified significantly and continues to ban remotely created payment orders (including remotely created checks), cash-to-cash money transfers and cash reload mechanisms in both inbound and outbound telemarketing.
In particular, the FTC rejected many industry comments on the grounds that the commenter did not provide examples or data to support its claims, highlighting the importance of hard evidence in making a case during the FTC’s rulemaking process. Moreover, although the American Bankers Association (ABA) argued that the proposed rule would be a direct and impermissible regulation of banks that exceeds the FTC’s authority, the FTC rejected the ABA’s position.
This Sidley Update briefly summarizes the key components of the Final Rule and the FTC’s analysis in support of its rulemaking.
FCC Issues Far-Reaching TCPA Declaratory Ruling
An already active TCPA class action bar is sure to become even more active after a significant Declaratory Ruling and Order from the FCC that, among other points, broadened what technologies may be considered autodialers, gave further strength to class actions based on reassigned cell numbers, and muddied the waters for constructing compliance mechanisms to support consumer revocation of consent.
On July 10, 2015, the Federal Communications Commission issued a declaratory ruling to resolve various concerns raised by 21 petitions regarding the Commission’s implementation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which carries a $500 penalty for each call or text in violation.