Sher Tremonte Wins Reversal in Clash of Internet Commerce and Personal Privacy

On July 31, 2013, in a case of first impression involving Internet commerce and personal privacy, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit granted the appeal filed and argued by Sher Tremonte and reversed the District Court’s grant of summary judgment for the defendant. The Second Circuit held that resellers of personal data contained in drivers’ records are required by the Drivers Privacy Protection Act to conduct a reasonable inquiry concerning a recipient’s permissible purpose before disclosing such information. The Second Circuit’s decision is likely to cause companies that sell personal data over the Internet to adopt new safeguards and represents an important victory for individual privacy. Read the decision here and the news article here.