Understanding the Legal Implications of Surveillance, Social Media & Spying

Surveillance today has become commonplace so that the products of surveillance - whether physical or electronic - will frequently become the subject of legal investigations and litigation. However, the rules governing surveillance are complicated and not necessarily clear. This course will provide guidance to the practicing attorney when utilizing evidence obtained from surveillance and social media profiling.

This program is designed to familiarize attorneys with the law surrounding physical, video, drone and electronic surveillance, GPS tracking devices, audio and video recordings, garbage pickups, undercover operatives, license plate recognition and social media profiling. In particular, the program is designed for those attorneys conducting internal investigations, developing facts in almost any civil litigation, family law matters and personal injury litigation. The program will include a review of the federal and state wiretap act, state criminal and civil privacy statutes and recent updates in invasion of privacy case law.

The course will further predict how courts will deal with newer technologies under current statutory and common law framework. There will be comparison and application of general US rules and principals to the current General Data Privacy Regulations ("GDPR") proposed privacy law as well the more recent California Consumer Privacy Act ("CCPA").

 
Learning Objectives:

1. Review federal and state statutes on privacy, wiretapping & GPS
2. Familiarize attorneys with common law invasion of privacy law and case law updates
3. Identify evidentiary issues with surveillance and its use in depositions and hearings
4. Identify potential ethical pitfalls in surveillance and social media issues
5. Discuss new technologies and their application to current law
6. Predict how proposed state and federal privacy law acts like Europe's GDPR or California's CCPA will affect private party surveillance