By: Richard Borden, Lori Smith and Kate Woods

On March 16, 2018, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit released its much anticipated ruling in ACA International, et al., v. Federal Communications Commission rejecting the expansive definition of automated telephone dialing system (ATDS) and setting aside the “one-call safe harbor rule” for reassigned cell phone numbers set forth in the Federal Communications Commission’s (the “Commission” or “FCC”) July 2015 Declaratory Ruling and Order interpreting the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). The court also upheld the scope of the Commission’s exemption to the prohibition of robo-calls specifically for healthcare-related calls of a time sensitive nature. (more…)

A federal judge in the Southern District of New York recently issued an opinion providing guidance concerning the viability of data breach claims, particularly in the context of a breach of employee information. Sackin v. Transperfect Global, Inc. involves a purported class action filed on behalf of Transperfect employees whose personally identifiable information (PII) was disclosed as a result of a cyber attack. In January 2017, a targeted phishing email was sent to a Transperfect employee designed to look like it had come from the company’s CEO, requesting payroll information regarding Transperfect employees. The Transperfect employee fell for the scheme and sent unencrypted PII to the attacker including names, addresses, Social Security Numbers, and bank account numbers for Transperfect employees. According to the complaint, the disclosure involved thousands of employees. Read more at Cyber News.