Trending on LXBN This Week: Hurricane Sandy, Election 2012 and California Mobile Privacy Laws

This week, the LexBlog Network covered a major news story like it never has before—one not even centralized specifically in the area of law. That subject is, of course, Hurricane Sandy. In other areas, we see LXBN authors continue to pound out insightful commentary on the upcoming election and our thriving privacy law community rises up to offer thoughts on California’s Attorney General issuing a strict warning to the state’s mobile app developers.

• Hurricane Sandy was the biggest story in the news this week—and it was the biggest story on the LexBlog Network. Since creating this section on LXBN specifically dedicated to legal commentary on the storm, we have seen 27 posts on the subject. In the lead-up to the storm, we saw many employment lawyers chime in and now—in its wake—many of the insurance, energy and construction attorneys offer their thoughts on how the recovery act will play out.
• As we get closer and closer to the conclusion of Election 2012, the LexBlog Network’s discussion of this topic only heightens. Like what we saw with Sandy, we have lawyers chiming in from almost every area of the law offering their thoughts on what the election will mean for their industries. On top of that, we still have the law of the election itself, with commentary on political advertising, employers’ ability to influence voters, contests surrounding voting and a plethora of other subjects.
• And lastly, in more of a legal-specific area, the California Attorney General has informed hundreds of mobile application developers they are not in compliance with the state’s privacy laws. Kamala Harris, the Attorney General, on Tuesday sent a letter to hundreds of businesses informing them that they’re violating California’s Online Privacy Protection Act by not including a privacy policy in their applications. They’ve been informed they must include a privacy policy within 30 days or face legal action, which may include fines of up to $2,500 for each download of the application.