District Court Issues Protective Order Preventing Disclosure of Satellite Company’s Customer List

In a suit brought by Echostar Satellite LLC against satellite receiver manufacturer Freetech Inc. under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted Freetech’s motion for an order protecting the identities of its customers from discovery by Echostar.

District Court Refuses to Grant Summary Judgment on FCRA
and State Law Claims Brought against Credit Reporting Agencies,
Dismisses Claims against Furnishers of Allegedly Incorrect
Credit Information

The District Court for the Eastern District of California declined to dismiss claims against Equifax and Trans Union under FCRA, as well as claims for negligent misrepresentation, negligence, tortious interference with prospective economic advantage, defamation, and false light invasion of privacy related to an alleged failure to correct errors in a credit report.

For more information, click here for the Bloomberg Privacy and Information Law Report

Do Federal Courts have Jurisdiction in Suits involving the Telephone Consumer Protection Act?

It's an interesting question. One District Court in Ohio says yes, another says no. The TCPA permits suits to be brought in state court, but does not prohibit cases to be heard in federal court.

To read more about the two recent decisions, click on Bloomberg Privacy and Information Law Report, and choose Privacy and Information Law "November 2008."

Will Obama Administration Reveal Extent of Wiretapping?

Bush Spy Revelations Anticipated When Obama Is Sworn In

Privacy Advocates Expect Whistleblowers to Share Warrantless Wiretap Info After Inauguration Day
By RYAN SINGEL
ABC News
Nov. 11, 2008

When Barack Obama takes the oath of office on January 20, Americans won't just get a new president; they might finally learn the full extent of George W. Bush's warrantless domestic wiretapping. Since The New York Times first revealed in 2005 that the NSA was eavesdropping on citizens' overseas phone calls and e-mail, few additional details about the massive "Terrorist Surveillance Program" have emerged. That's because the Bush administration has stonewalled, misled and denied documents to Congress, and subpoenaed the phone records of the investigative reporters.

Now privacy advocates are hopeful that President Obama will be more forthcoming with information. But for the quickest and most honest account of Bush's illegal policies, they say don't look to the incoming president. Watch instead for the hidden army of would-be whistle-blowers who've been waiting for Inauguration Day to open the spigot on the truth.

"I'd bet there are a lot of career employees in the intelligence agencies who'll be glad to see Obama take the oath so they can finally speak out against all this illegal spying and get back to their real mission," says Caroline Fredrickson, the ACLU's Washington D.C. legislative director.

New Yorker investigative reporter Seymour Hersh already has a slew of sources waiting to spill the Bush administration's administration's darkest secrets, he said in an interview last month. "You cannot believe how many people have told me to call them on January 20. [They say,] 'You wanna know about abuses and violations? Call me then.'"