“Facebook is obligated to keep the promises about privacy that it makes to its hundreds of millions of users” – Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced the long-rumored proposed consent decree with Facebook, settling allegations in a complaint that Facebook violated Section 5 of the FTC Act by failing to live… Continue Reading
Monthly Archives: November 2011
Tips for Cyber Monday
Posted in UncategorizedSome very handy reminders from The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse – Cyber Monday Shopping Tips 2011. Also: If an email offer touting a “Cyber Monday” special looks too good to be true, it probably is. Do not provide any “retailer” with your Social Security number, or more information than someone would reasonably need to fulfill your transaction…. Continue Reading
Texas Federal Judge Finding Does Not Add Much to Privacy Debate Over Location Data
Posted in UncategorizedWritten by Paul Pelletier The ruling by Judge Lynn Hughes of the Southern District of Texas last week, declaring unconstitutional a provision of the Stored Communications Act (SCA) of 1986, won’t add much to the privacy debate. In a four paragraph one-page order, Judge Hughes affirmed the Magistrate Judge’s denial of an application by the… Continue Reading
HIPAA Audits Begin; Huge Medical Data Theft from California Provider
Posted in Data Breach, Data Breach Notification, HIPAA/HITECHOur sister blog, Health Law & Policy Matters, includes a detailed discussion (warning?) relating to the commencement of HIPAA audits by the Office of Civil Rights. That post can be found here, and it and the embedded links should be required reading for anyone involved with protected health information. Yesterday, we learned of a major… Continue Reading
Breaking News — Wall Street Journal: Facebook Close to Settlement with the Federal Trade Commission
Posted in Privacy Regulation, UncategorizedUpdate: Post from Daily Online Examiner blog. If you’re a power Facebook user, you are likely tired of the constant changes to privacy settings. At last count, the most recent change was the 13th. This report may make your day. The Wall Street Journal reports this afternoon (registration required) that Facebook is finalizing a proposed settlement… Continue Reading
Senators Kerry & McCain to FTC and Commerce: Get Moving on Final Reports
Posted in UncategorizedSenators John Kerry and John McCain today requested that the Department of Commerce and the Federal Trade Commission issue their final reports on consumer privacy protections. Both agencies released draft reports identifying large holes in current privacy protections in December 2010, but have not yet issued final reports. Senators Kerry and McCain introduced legislation aimed… Continue Reading
Monday Morning Privacy 101
Posted in Data Breach, Data Breach Notification, HIPAA/HITECH, UncategorizedCan you identify the major problems lurking in this one short paragraph? We’ve given you some help. The UCLA Health System has notified more than 16,000 patients of the theft of their PHI during a home invasion of a former employee. The PHI was contained on an external computer hard drive and although the information… Continue Reading
Privacy and Security Bits and Bytes
Posted in UncategorizedAfter yet another week without power due to a history-making “Snowtober” storm, the Northeast is starting to recover, along with the editor of this blog. Here are some bits and bytes for a Friday afternoon: For those of you now able to log on and read this, here is a recent Mintz article centering on… Continue Reading
