New Media and Technology Law Blog
Jeffrey Neuburger

Jeffrey Neuburger

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Jeffrey Neuburger is a partner, co-head of the Technology, Media & Telecommunications Group, a member of the Privacy & Cybersecurity Group and editor of the firm’s New Media and Technology Law blog.

Jeff’s practice focuses on technology, media and advertising-related business transactions and counseling, including the utilization of emerging technology and distribution methods in business. For example, Jeff represents clients in online strategies associated with advertising, products, services and content commercialized on the Internet through broadband channels, mobile platforms, broadcast and cable television distribution and print publishing. He also represents many organizations in large infrastructure-related projects, such as outsourcing, technology acquisitions, cloud computing initiatives and related services agreements.

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President Signs Executive Order Directing Agencies to Probe the Contours of CDA Immunity

By Jeffrey Neuburger on Posted in Online Content, Regulatory, Social Media
President Trump signed an Executive Order today attempting to curtail legal protections under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (“Section 230” or the “CDA”). The Executive Order strives to clarify that Section 230 immunity “should not extend beyond its text and purpose to provide protection for those who purport to provide users a forum … Continue Reading

President to Unveil Executive Order to Address CDA Section 230 Protections

By Jeffrey Neuburger on Posted in First Amendment, Online Content, Regulatory
UPDATE: On the afternoon of May 28, 2020, the President signed the executive order concerning CDA Section 230. A copy/link to the order has not yet been posted on the White House’s website.   According to news reports, the Trump Administration (the “Administration”) is drafting and the President is set to sign an executive order … Continue Reading

French Data Protection Authority Speaks to Web Scraping

By Jeffrey Neuburger on Posted in Online Content, Privacy, Screen Scraping
Late last month, the French data protection authority, the CNIL, published guidance surrounding considerations behind what it calls “commercial prospecting,” meaning scraping publicly available website data to obtain individuals’ contact info for purposes of selling such data to third parties for direct marketing purposes.  The guidance is noteworthy in two respects.  First, it speaks to … Continue Reading

Protecting Business Information Assets in the “Work From Home” Environment

By Jeffrey Neuburger on Posted in Contracts, Data Security, E-mail, Electronic Records, Mobile
This past March, many organizations were forced to suddenly pivot to a “work from home” environment (“WFH”) as COVID-19 spread across our country.  However, many companies did not have the necessary technical infrastructure in place to support their full workforce on a WFH basis.  Often, remote access systems were configured assuming only a portion of … Continue Reading

Important Developments (Including Supreme Court Review) in the Interpretation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act

By Jeffrey Neuburger on Posted in Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Contracts, Screen Scraping
We continue to wait to see if the Supreme Court will accept LinkedIn’s petition to overturn the Ninth Circuit’s blockbuster ruling in the hiQ Labs case.  In that case, the appeals court held that an entity engaging in scraping of “public” data had shown a likelihood of success on its claim that such access does … Continue Reading

Open COVID Pledge Rolled Out to Make Patents and Other IP Available for COVID-19 Response

By Jeffrey Neuburger on Posted in Contracts, Copyright, Licensing, Open Source, Software
In an innovative initiative in the battle against the Coronavirus, the newly-formed Open COVID Coalition (the “Coalition”) launched the Open COVID Pledge (the “Pledge”), a framework for organizations to contribute intellectual property to the fight against COVID-19. Pursuant to the Pledge, rightsholders can openly license intellectual property to facilitate the development of tools and technologies … Continue Reading

Cluttered User Registration Screens Challenge Enforceability of Site Terms

By Jeffrey Neuburger on Posted in Contracts, Internet, Online Commerce
In recent years, courts have issued a host of rulings as to whether online or mobile users received adequate notice of and consented to user agreements or website terms when completing an online purchase or registering for a service. Some online agreements have been enforced, while others have not. In each case, judges have examined … Continue Reading

Work-Outs of Technology and Services Agreements Challenged by COVID-19

By Jeffrey Neuburger on Posted in Contracts, Licensing, Software, Technology
In early February 2020, before most of us were truly aware of the implications of COVID-19, a well-respected IT consulting group predicted a $4.3 trillion global spend on information technology in 2020. Drivers of the projected activity included cybersecurity, outdated infrastructure, mobile accessibility needs, cloud and SaaS transitions, and on-premises technology requirements.  In late 2019, … Continue Reading

Washington Governor Signs Bill Addressing Government Use of Facial Recognition Technology

By Jeffrey Neuburger on Posted in Biometrics, Legislation, Privacy, Technology
While Washington’s comprehensive data privacy bill (SB 6182) — inspired by California’s CCPA — died when legislators could not hammer out a compromise over enforcement mechanisms, the state legislature did reach agreement and Gov. Jay Inslee signed into law a facial recognition bill (SB 6280) that provides some important privacy and antidiscrimination provisions regarding state … Continue Reading

Will the Role of Facial Recognition Grow in a Post-COVID-19 World?

By Jeffrey Neuburger on Posted in Biometrics, Privacy, Technology
An interesting New York Times article last week posited that governments’ use of digital surveillance techniques for the COVID-19 response – such as the tracking of geolocation to gauge quarantine restrictions – would lead to more pervasive digital tracking in the future. On a related note, there have been reports of an increased use of … Continue Reading

FTC Paid Endorser Settlement Sets Framework for Advertiser Best Practices

By Jeffrey Neuburger on Posted in Contracts, Internet, Online Commerce, Social Media
Teami, LLC (“Teami”), a marketer of teas and skincare products, agreed to settle FTC charges alleging that its retained social media influencers did not sufficiently disclose that they were being paid to promote Teami’s products. The FTC’s Complaint also included allegations that Teami made unsupported weight-loss and health claims about its products, an issue that … Continue Reading

Online Platforms Sidestep Claims over User Content Decisions and Social App Functions

By Jeffrey Neuburger on Posted in First Amendment, Internet, Online Content, Social Media
Despite continued scrutiny over the legal immunity online providers enjoy under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), online platforms continue to successfully invoke its protections. This is illustrated by three recent decisions in which courts dismissed claims that sought to impose liability on providers for hosting or restricting access to user content and … Continue Reading

Protecting against Cybersecurity Threats when Working from Home

By Jeffrey Neuburger, Ryan Blaney and Kevin Milewski on Posted in Data Security, Internet
With the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), many organizations are requiring or permitting employees to work remotely.  This post is intended to remind employers and employees that in the haste to implement widespread work-from-home strategies, data security concerns cannot be forgotten. Employers and employees alike should remain vigilant of increased cybersecurity threats, some of … Continue Reading

Coronavirus and the “100% Work-From-Home” Scenario: Review Agreements with Vendors of Remote Access Technology

By Jeffrey Neuburger on Posted in Contracts, Software, Technology
As part of the response to the outbreak of COVID-19, many organizations are working on contingency and business continuity plans that include an all-employee “work-from-home” scenario.  If it becomes necessary to implement such a plan, all employees of the organization will access the organization’s networks and systems remotely. Unfortunately, many organizations that are testing these … Continue Reading

Facebook Brings Suit against Mobile Marketing Firm for Siphoning User Data without Authorization

By Jeffrey Neuburger on Posted in Contracts, Mobile, Privacy, Screen Scraping, Social Media, Software
In continuing its push to enforce its terms and policies against developers that engage in unauthorized collection or scraping of user data, Facebook brought suit last month against mobile marketing and data analytics firm OneAudience LLC. (Facebook, Inc. v. OneAudience LLC, No. 20-01461 (N.D. Cal. Complaint filed Feb. 27, 2020)). Facebook alleges that OneAudience harvested … Continue Reading

EU Releases “A European Strategy for Data”

By Jeffrey Neuburger on Posted in Legislation, Online Commerce, Regulatory, Social Media
As 2019 came to a close, we looked ahead into 2020 and noted that data would continue to be a huge issue for the digital economy.  We have not been disappointed. On February 19, 2020, the European Commission (the “Commission”) released its 35-page document entitled “A European strategy for data,” becoming just the latest of many … Continue Reading

Court Enforces Arbitration Clause in Online Terms of Service Accepted by a Minor

By Jeffrey Neuburger on Posted in Contracts, Data Security, Internet, Videogames
Epic Games, Inc. (“Epic”) is the publisher of the popular online multiplayer videogame Fortnite, released in 2017. In recent years, Fortnight has gained worldwide popularity with gamers and esports followers (culminating in July 2019 when a sixteen-year-old player won the $3 million prize for winning the Fortnite World Cup).  Players, in one version of the … Continue Reading

FCC Enforcement Coming over Alleged Privacy Violations for Disclosure of Consumers’ Geolocation Data

By Jeffrey Neuburger on Posted in Mobile, Privacy
UPDATE: On February 28, 2020, the FCC proposed over $200M in fines against the wireless carriers.   On January 31st, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai transmitted a letter in response to a prior inquiry from a number of House members regarding the status of the Commission’s investigation into reports that the major wireless carriers were allegedly … Continue Reading

Final CFIUS Regulations Impact Foreign Non-Control Investment Transactions Involving Critical Technologies/Infrastructure or Sensitive Data

By Jeffrey Neuburger on Posted in Regulatory, Technology
In 2018, Congress passed the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (FIRRMA) to modernize the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). CFIUS is chaired by the Secretary of the Treasury and is empowered to review certain transactions involving foreign investment in the U.S. that may affect national security.  On January 23, 2020, … Continue Reading

Members of Congress Request FTC Investigation of Financial Data Company’s Collection and Privacy Practices

By Jeffrey Neuburger on Posted in Mobile, Online Commerce, Privacy
Last week, Democratic Senators Ron Wyden and Sherrod Brown and Congresswoman Anna Eshoo sent a letter to FTC Chairman Joseph J. Simons urging the agency to investigate whether analytics firm Envestnet, Inc. (which operates Yodlee) was violating the FTC Act. According to the letter, Yodlee is the largest consumer financial data aggregator in the United … Continue Reading

Repeal of CDA Section 230?

By Jeffrey Neuburger on Posted in Internet, Online Content
In an interview with the editorial board of the New York Times, published today, former Vice President Joe Biden advocated for repeal of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA).  As readers of this blog may know, the CDA offers service providers protections that underpin the hosting of much of the user-generated content (both … Continue Reading
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