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The news has been saturated lately by stories of data breaches. The IRS discovered recently that a breach of citizens’ tax return information covered more than 330,000 taxpayers, three times that originally identified in May of this year. Target’s data breach in 2013 is back in the news because the company just settled claims against it by […]

[continues…] The Target breach illustrates the breadth of applicable state laws when a data breach affects a large company. On December 19, 2013, Target announced that it had been the victim of a criminal attack on its computer network by third-party intruders who stole payment card data and other personal information from Target shoppers who shopped […]

Information Law Journal, Vol. 6, Issue 2, Autumn 2015 From the article Privacy is being challenged by the burgeoning use of Big Data. The term “Big Data” has multiple definitions. This paper discusses the challenges to privacy posed by Big Data viewed as an Information Technology process that collects and parses huge sets of data […]

Section §255.0 – Purpose and definitions: “The Guides represent administrative interpretations of laws enforced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for the guidance of the public in conducting its affairs in conformity with legal requirements. Specifically, the Guides address the application of Section 5 of the FTC Act (15 U.S.C. 45) to the use of […]

On October 20, 2014, the District Court of New Jersey dismissed a shareholder’s derivative action against the officers of a Delaware company alleging breach of fiduciary duty in connection with three data breaches. The decision offers interesting inputs for companies’ officials with regard to potential data breaches’ risks and liabilities. This case involves a shareholder […]

On March 18, 2015, the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade of the US House of Representatives will review a recently proposed draft legislation that aims to tackle data security threats at a national level. The “Data Security and Breach Notification Act,” is a bipartisan bill authored by full committee Vice Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) […]

On March 6, 2015, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Dutch Data Protection Authority (College bescherming persoonsgegevens, see here) to “enhance information sharing and enforcement cooperation on privacy-related matters”. The MOU is similar to agreements the FTC has signed with with the data protection authorities of Ireland and the […]

German data watchdogs met in Berlin on January 28, 2015, to discuss the transfer of data between the EU and the USA. The leaders debated on the validity of the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework in the post-Snowden era. The details of the discussion are available at https://www.huntonprivacyblog… More information is available at http://www.zdnet… The conference’s program (in […]

On December 8, 2014, the UK Court of Appeal began hearing Google’s appeal against the High Court’s decision which allowed UK data subjects to sue Google Inc. in England for misuse of private information. In brief, at the beginning of 2013, several claimants alleged that Google used cookies to track their browsing activity without their consent. […]

AAA say the voluntary Consumer Privacy Protection Principles adopted by several automakers (such as BMW, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Mazda, Mercedes–Benz, Mitsubishi, Porsche, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Volvo) may fail to protect users’ privacy. According to AAA President and chief operating officer Marshall Doney “AAA is encouraged that automakers are taking a first step to address […]