Written by Amy Malone This week the Federal Trade Commission released a best practices guide that outlines how companies using facial recognition can protect consumer privacy. The Commission continued to push the “privacy by design” model that it first promoted in its March 2012 report, “Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change.” The… Continue Reading
Monthly Archives: October 2012
National Cybersecurity Awareness Month — Cryptography is Going Mainstream
Posted in SecurityWritten by Sara Crasson The Privacy and Security Matters Blog continues to celebrate National Cybersecurity Awareness Month this October. The Internet has become a primary medium for everyday communication, but individuals rarely consider the potential data security problems. Sending an e-mail or instant message is like dropping a postcard in the mail. Many people handle… Continue Reading
Barnes & Noble PIN Pad Devices Hit By Hackers
Posted in Data Breach, Data Breach NotificationAs the New York Times reports, Barnes & Noble disclosed this week that it learned over one month ago – on September 14 – that hackers broke into point of sale PIN pad devices at 63 Barnes & Noble stores around the country and stole credit and debit card information for customers who had made purchases at… Continue Reading
FCC Announces Effective Date for Mobile Phone “Robocall” Written Consent Requirement
Posted in Privacy RegulationBy Howard J. Symons and Ernest C. Cooper The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced October 16, 2013, as the effective date for its new rules requiring companies to obtain prior express written consent from consumers before calling them with prerecorded telemarketing “robocalls” or before using an autodialer to call their wireless numbers with telemarketing… Continue Reading
Court Decision in Sony PlayStation Data Breach Case Places Burden on Plaintiffs to Allege Actual Damages
Posted in Class Action Litigation, Data Breach, Data Breach NotificationWritten by Kevin McGinty Class action plaintiffs asserting claims against Sony in connection with the 2011 Sony PlayStation Network (“PSN”) data breach face permanent dismissal of their claims unless they can allege actual losses resulting from the breach. In an October 11 decision, a federal court in Los Angeles granted in part Sony’s motion to… Continue Reading
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Falls Short in Response to Healthcare Data Breaches
Posted in Data Breach, Data Breach Notification, HIPAA/HITECH, Privacy RegulationWritten by Stephen Bentfield and previously published in Mintz Levin’s Health Law & Policy Matters Last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) released the results of a study entitled CMS Response to Breaches and Medical Identity Theft. OIG had two objectives for commencing this study. First, OIG sought to determine whether… Continue Reading
Did you know? October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month
Posted in Data Compliance & Security, SecurityWritten by Amy Malone While we all know that October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we here at Privacy and Security Matters will just bet that you didn’t know that is it also National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. In President Obama’s Proclamation of October as Cybersecurity Month, he touched upon the importance that our digital… Continue Reading
October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month
Posted in UncategorizedMintz Levin has two upcoming — free — events to help observe National Cybersecurity Awareness Month Click on the links below for registration information – October 18, 2012 — San Diego — The Era of Big Data — Governance, Risk and Compliance October 25, 2012 — Webinar — Data Privacy and Security Issues for the… Continue Reading
Online and Off-Limits: New California Legislation Prohibits Employers from Requiring Access to Social Media Accounts of Employees
Posted in Employee Privacy, Privacy Regulation, SecurityWritten by Jake Romero Facebook announced last week that it now has upwards of 1 billion active users. That same week, over 10 million Twitter messages were sent during the U.S. presidential debate . With the number and use of social media websites rapidly expanding, your privacy rights with respect to your tweets, “likes” and… Continue Reading
Two Upcoming Privacy Events
Posted in 201 CMR 17.00, Data Breach, Data Compliance & Security, Employee Privacy, Privacy RegulationWe have two “Save the Date” announcements today – for registration information click on the links below: October 18, 2012 — San Diego — The Era of Big Data — Governance, Risk and Compliance October 25, 2012 — Webinar — Data Privacy and Security Issues for the Nonprofit Join the Mintz Levin Privacy team at… Continue Reading
State Data Breach Notification Matrix Update – Texas and Connecticut
Posted in Data Breach NotificationIt’s time for an updated version of our “Mintz Matrix” – the Mintz Levin matrix of state data security breach notification laws. We update this matrix quarterly, or as developments dictate. The Fall 2012 version can be found at Data Breach Notification Matrix In this update, we call particular attention to changes in the following… Continue Reading
The new European Cloud Partnership and UK ICO Guidance on Personal Data and Cloud Computing
Posted in European UnionWritten by Susan Foster, Solicitor England & Wales/Admitted in California EC Cloud Partnership The European Commission recently announced a €10 million campaign aimed at establishing standards and voluntary certification programs to make cloud computing services better aligned with European data protection laws. The EC intends to leverage the purchasing power of national and local… Continue Reading
