Data Security and Legal Compliance in the Technology Industry

Short pieces:50+ Venezuelans Imprisoned in El Salvador Came to US Legally, Never Violated Immigration Law (CATO At Liberty Blog, May 2025) [text]The Absence of "State Secrets" in US-El Salvador Agreement: On Removal and Imprisonment of Non-US Citizens (Just Security, May 2025) [text]Another Abrego Garcia, and the Administration’s "Contrivance" to Keep Him in El Salvador’s Prison (Just Security, May 2025) [text]- Focuses on the US.Breaking the Chains of Indefinite Detention: Application of Existing Legal Frameworks to Protect Refugee Rights in Thailand (RLI Blog, May 2025) [text][Detention and Deportation] (Border Criminologies Blog, May 2025) [access]- A series about "methodological reflections arising from a...thematic group workshop." Three posts are currently available, focusing on Greece, the US, and the UK, respectively.Greece: Growing Pressure to End Pushbacks and Prevent Abuses in Migrant Detention Sites (Immigration Detention…

A tragic pedestrian fatality on Interstate 80 in Alameda County has once again brought attention to the dangers pedestrians face on California’s busy highways. The incident, which occurred on the evening of May 26, 2025, resulted in significant traffic disruptions and underscores the importance of understanding pedestrian rights and safety on roadways. Details of the Interstate 80 Pedestrian Collision According to the California Highway Patrol (CHP), the fatal accident occurred around 10:50 PM on westbound Interstate 80, just west of Powell Street. A white adult male wearing a blue tracksuit was found lying across two slow lanes of traffic when responding officers arrived at the scene. The collision involved a BMW SUV that reportedly moved into the pedestrian’s lane from the right shoulder. Several vehicles had pulled over onto the right shoulder near the accident location, and traffic was completely halted in all westbound lanes, prompting authorities to issue a…

A Fresno man in his early twenties faces multiple charges after allegedly fleeing the scene of a traffic collision and leading police on a slow-speed chase that ended with his vehicle crashing into an apartment building. The incident, which occurred Sunday morning, highlights the serious legal consequences of hit-and-run accidents and the additional charges that can result from attempting to evade law enforcement. The Initial Hit-and-Run Incident The sequence of events began when a Fresno police officer responded to a traffic collision at the intersection of Shields and Blackstone avenues. According to Lt. Skye Leibee, the officer arrived to find the aftermath of a crash but observed one of the involved vehicles driving away from the scene—a clear indication of a hit-and-run violation. The fleeing vehicle showed extensive front-end damage, suggesting it had been significantly involved in the original collision. This visible damage likely made it easier for the responding…

Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University The Elisabeth Haub School of Law is pleased to announce the competition for its annual Women, Gender & the Law Emerging Scholar Award.  This paper competition is open to all having with five (5) or fewer years of full-time law teaching experience as of July 1, 2025. The deadline for submissions is July 1, 2025. The purpose of the award is to encourage and recognize excellent legal scholarship related to gender and the law.  The work chosen for the Women, Gender & the Law Emerging Scholar Award should make a substantial contribution to legal literature and reflect original research and/or major developments in previously reported research. Papers will be reviewed on a blind basis by a committee comprised of members of the Haub Law full-time faculty with expertise in this area.  The winner of the competition will be invited to present the paper to selected students and faculty at Haub Law (located in White…

A hit-and-run incident involving a vehicle and a bicyclist occurred this afternoon in San Jose, leaving the cyclist injured. The collision took place at the intersection of State Route 130 and McCreery Avenue at approximately 3:34 PM. Emergency services were promptly notified, with both the San Jose Police Department and Fire Department responding to the scene. The bicyclist was found on the roadside, and immediate medical assistance was provided. The extent of the injuries sustained by the cyclist has not been disclosed, but the individual was attended to by emergency medical personnel. The vehicle involved in the incident fled the scene, and authorities are currently investigating to identify and locate the driver responsible. This unfortunate event highlights the ongoing risks faced by cyclists on busy roads. Motorists are urged to exercise caution and remain vigilant, especially in areas with high bicycle traffic. Anyone with information regarding the incident is…

I would like to make one thing absolutely clear from the start. If you are looking at these words and, er, reading them, that’s OK. Really, it is. In fact, it’s kind of the point. I mention this because, for more than a year, my inbox has received messages from the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) seeking my views – and expressing theirs – on the rights of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to read an author’s published work. I seem to be in a minority on this topic – possibly even a minority of one – so let me just say that reading my work is still OK even if you are a machine. In fact, dear automaton, I say: “Go for it” (or “Have at it” if you are an appliance resident in America). Chances are, if you are a machine, you’ve already gone for it and had at it. Authors are not the only people engaging in a discussion about AI. The creative industries generally have been campaigning against the…

Legal professionals issued an open letter Monday, urging the UK government to take “concrete action” against Israel and meet its obligations under international law to prevent war crimes and other violations against the Palestinian people. The letter, addressed to the UK Prime Minister, outlined the current violations of international law by Israel against Palestine. It warned that “genocide or… serious risk of genocide” threatens Gaza and that the humanitarian situation is worsening as a consequence of an “11-week blockade on food, medical supplies” and other essentials. The document has over 800 legally qualified signatories, many of whom are lawyers and legal academics. The letter highlighted the actions of the Israeli military on the Gaza strip and occupied Palestinian territory, as well as Israel’s May 2025 plan. Writers claimed that the recent offensive aims to forcibly displace Gaza’s population and “accelerate…

On May 9, 2025, Governor Jared Polis signed House Bill 25-1272, known as the “Colorado American Dream Act,” into law.  The legislation, which takes effect January 1, 2026, aims to address the state’s well-documented shortage of for-sale multifamily housing, particularly condominiums and townhomes, by creating a voluntary program for developers and builders who agree to enhanced quality assurance measures and pre-litigation procedures.  In exchange, participants were promised certain procedural and substantive protections in construction defect litigation. Despite its well-intentioned goals, H.B. 25-1272 falls short of delivering meaningful legal protections to builders.  While touted as a reform, the Act ultimately introduces more procedural burden and disclosure obligations than it does risk reduction.  The law appears to offer insulation from meritless claims, but closer inspection reveals that its protections are largely illusory and, in…

When Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017, they included provisions creating Opportunity Zones. These zones allow eligible investors to defer and reduce their capital gains tax liability in return for investing in communities that could benefit from outside investments. The goal of Opportunity Zones is to infuse much-needed capital in distressed parts of the United States. The goal of this article is to examine how Opportunity Zones work, including their tax benefits and potential risks. Key Takeaways Opportunity Zones – geographical areas within the United States (and some of its territories) where investors can enjoy tax savings while also helping economically distressed communities. How to take advantage of these tax benefits – reinvest capital gains from a prior investment within 180 days of the sale of that investment. Eligibility – the reinvestment must be in a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF), which is an investment vehicle that…

Just over a year ago on these pages, I continued our look at the patent franchises protecting the defining drugs of our time, Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly’s diabetes/weight-loss blockbusters, Ozembic/Wegovy and Mounjaro/Zepbound. As you can imagine with drugs of such culture-defining magnitude, the year that has passed since that column has been full of news relating to their sale. On the legal front, the lifting of the FDA shortage declaration relating to the branded versions of the drugs ended the ability of compounders to sell their versions in bulk, shutting down the gravy train that propelled telehealth companies like Hims and Ro to revenues they could have only imagined sprouting up from their stable of erectile dysfunction and hair-loss offerings. Despite efforts from the compound pharmaceutical industry to have the FDA’s decision overturned, the ban on anything other than personalized versions of the drugs is in effect, with the specter of continued FDA…

Being involved in a rear-end collision can be a jarring and disorienting experience. As a Fort Myers personal injury attorney, I understand the confusion and stress you may be feeling right now. Our team at Garvin Injury Law will always take the time to guide clients through the initial process, explain your legal rights, and formulate a smart strategy for financial compensation. Understanding Liability in Rear-End Collisions In Florida, there exists what we call a “rebuttable presumption of negligence” in rear-end collisions. What this means is that the driver who rear-ends another vehicle is generally presumed to be at fault for the accident. This presumption is based on the principle that drivers should maintain a safe following distance and be prepared to stop when the vehicle ahead slows or stops. However, as established in cases like Cevallos v. Rideout (107 So.3d 348, Fla. 2012), this presumption can be rebutted under certain circumstances. The rear driver…

By the Constantine Cannon Whistleblower Team Last week (May 19), the Department of Justice (DOJ) released a memo describing the details of its new Civil Rights Fraud Initiative, which will use the False Claims Act to push the Trump Administration’s DEI agenda.1  In announcing the initiative,2 Attorney General Pam Bondi made clear that enforcing Trump’s crusade against DEI is a top DOJ priority: “Institutions that take federal money only to allow anti-Semitism and promote divisive DEI policies are putting their access to federal funds at risk.  This Department of Justice will not tolerate these violations of civil rights – inaction is not an option.” THE FALSE CLAIMS ACT WILL BE CENTRAL TO ENFORCING TRUMP’S ANTI-DEI CAMPAIGN The False Claims Act was enacted by President Lincoln during the Civil War to go after war profiteers trying to defraud the Union Army with sawdust munitions and lame mules.  Since then, it has become the…

Bethany Berger, University of Iowa College of Law, is publishing Rosalind's Refund: The Woman, the Lawyers, and the Time that Created McClanahan v. Arizona in the Kansas Law Review (2025). Here is the abstract. Rosalind McClanahan was just twenty-two when she set one of the most important cases in federal Indian law into motion. On April 1, 1968, she filed her Arizona tax return, along with a protest that all the money withheld from her pay—$16.29—should be refunded because she was a Navajo citizen whose income was earned entirely on the Navajo reservation. The Arizona Tax Commission ignored her claim and the Arizona courts rejected it. But the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in her favor, building a foundation for many more decisions rebuffing state jurisdiction as well as landmark legislation such as the Indian Child Welfare Act and Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. This Essay, the first full history of McClanahan, examines the origins of the decision as…

Here is my recent Daily Record column. My past Daily Record articles can be accessed here. **** New Hampshire Ethics Committee On Drafting Legal Documents with AI Despite repeated warnings from ethics committees, lawyers continue to make headlines for citing fake cases in legal briefs that were created by generative artificial intelligence. Most recently, attorneys from some of the largest law firms have been guilty of this transgression.  To be clear, these errors occurred because lawyers failed to review filings before verifying them and submitting them to the court. Regardless of who–-or what—prepares a document, you have an ethical obligation to carefully review it for accuracy.  So why does this keep happening? One key reason is that document drafting is an obvious legal use case for generative AI. According to the 2025 AffiniPay Legal Industry Report, 40% of the respondents who had adopted generative AI in their practices have…

It’s difficult enough to suffer the shock and pain of an injury car accident. The situation can get tragic if you lose a loved one that way. Then there is the outrage that follows when you learn that the accident didn’t have to happen except for the careless behavior of the at-fault party. Just when you thought the situation couldn’t get any worse, the insurance claim adjuster or lawyer denies your claim for a frivolous or even arbitrary reason. At some point, it becomes time to fight back. Profit is an insurance company’s bottom line Insurance companies are not charities. They are businesses, and they exist to turn a profit. They make money by accepting monthly premiums, and they spend money by paying claims. The moment you submit a claim, your interests become directly adverse to theirs. Don’t be surprised if the insurance company ignores your claim or tries to minimize its value. How to fight an insurance claim denial in Illinois An insurance…

When blogs first came out, the author might put a proverbial “Gone Fishing” message to let readers know that they’ve got on vacation. But with the rise of scams, some of us (ahem) just announce vacations AFTER we already had them. While I was away, I ended up pondering a few employment law issues and trying to make sense of it all without the press of work. I’ll have another post or two on some of those thoughts, but one such topic actually relates to vacation. There was a time a while ago where employers would just give employees, say 2-3 weeks off as vacation and call it a day. If someone needed to take a sick day, they could do that too. Then sometime more recently, employers started just using the concept of “paid time off” to track all such time (though schools and some industries were notable exceptions). Some even started moving to “unlimited PTO” with the notion that so long as employees were performing their…

E. coli outbreak sickened more than 80 people, but details didn’t surface Food safety inspections are being scaled back and the public was not notified after an investigation into E. coli contamination. By Stephanie Armour Colton George felt sick. The 9-year-old Indiana boy told his parents his stomach hurt. He kept running to the bathroom and felt too ill to finish a basketball game. Days later, he lay in a hospital bed, fighting for his life. He had eaten tainted salad, according to a lawsuit against the lettuce grower filed by his parents on April 17 in federal court for the Southern District of Indiana. The E. coli bacteria that ravaged Colton’s kidneys was a genetic match to the strain that killed one person and sickened nearly 90 people in 15 states last fall. Federal health agencies investigated the cases and linked them to a farm that grew romaine lettuce. But most people have never heard about this outbreak, which…

If the police arrest you in Maryland, you need to seek legal representation immediately. While you aren’t guaranteed “one phone call,” you will often have an opportunity to make a call. You may want to use that call to seek a lawyer, but if you call a relative, have them start looking for a criminal defense lawyer who can represent you. Even before you secure a lawyer, appeal to your future lawyer by telling the police you don’t want to answer any questions without a lawyer. Your Miranda rights The 1966 Supreme Court case Miranda vs. Arizona established that the police must issue suspects Miranda warnings before conducting a custodial interrogation. Anyone who has ever watched a TV police drama has heard it before: “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you…” The right to remain silent You don’t have to answer any questions from the police. If you do answer any questions, you can be…