Written by Adam Veness Earlier today, the FTC held a press conference and issued a final report setting forth best practices for businesses to protect American consumers and to provide consumers with greater control over the collection and use of their data. You can find the full report here: Final Commission Report on Protecting Consumer… Continue Reading
Monthly Archives: March 2012
Facebook speaks out on employers asking for — or requiring — passwords
Posted in UncategorizedFollowing up on our post yesterday on the disturbing practice of employers requesting — and sometimes requiring — both employees and prospective employees to hand over social networking passwords — Facebook has something to say about this. In a company blog post today, Facebook Chief Privacy Officer Erin Egan said, “This practice undermines the privacy… Continue Reading
Overheard in the interview room: What is your Facebook password?
Posted in Employee Privacy, Privacy RegulationIf you’ve missed this development of late, the word on the street is that prospective employers are not just using Google to search for whatever may be available on the Internet — they are asking applicants to provide their Facebook passwords to allow the prospective employer to peruse their Facebook page. Our colleagues over at… Continue Reading
The cost of HIPAA non-compliance – $17 million – UPDATE
Posted in Data Breach, Data Breach Notification, Data Compliance & Security, HIPAA/HITECHWritten by Kevin McGinty If it wasn’t clear before, a recent settlement of HIPAA claims brought by the Department of Health and Human Services against BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee (“BCBST”) underscores the high regulatory cost of non-compliance with privacy requirements. HHS announced on March 13, 2012 that BCBST has agreed to pay $1.5 million… Continue Reading
Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights – Summary and Invitation to Comment
Posted in Data Compliance & Security, Legislation, Privacy RegulationThe Department of Commerce has already taken the first steps to implementing the White House’s Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights announced last month. Commerce has invited comment on “what issues should be addressed through the privacy multi-stakeholder process and how to structure these discussions so they are open, transparent, and most productive.” According to the Federal… Continue Reading
