Privacy & Cybersecurity

Answering the centuries’ old question, it appears it is the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) that watches the watchmen. The FTC sent warning letters to a pair of foreign app developers cautioning them that their practices of collecting children’s geolocation data without parental consent may be in violation of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”).

A challenge to the use of a cy pres charitable donations to settle privacy claims against Google will be heard by the Supreme Court. In Frank v. Gaos, petitioners seek reversal of lower court decisions rejecting their objection to an $8.5 million settlement of claims arising from Google’s transmission of users’ search terms to third-party websites.

With the recent enactment of data breach notification laws in South Dakota and Alabama, all 50 US states now have laws regulating data breach notification. We’ve updated the Mintz Matrix (maintained by the Mintz Privacy Team for nearly 10 years) to provide you with the latest information.

Uber Technologies, Inc. (“Uber”) has agreed to an expansion of its initial August 2017 proposed consent agreement with the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), in light of revelations of an additional security breach in October 2016, which it knew about but did not disclose until November 2017, after it settled over its initial May 2014 breach.

Facebook has recently chosen to no longer fund opposition to the California Consumer Privacy Act, which could appear on the California State Ballot as an initiated state statute on November 6, 2018.

As the clock ticks down to May 25, 2018, when the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) becomes fully enforceable throughout the EU, the Internet and airwaves have become saturated with guidance for companies about what to expect and how to prepare for its new protections and restrictions.

Alabama has joined the "crazy quilt" of state data breach notification laws with the governor's signature of the Alabama Data Breach Notification Act of 2018.

Only one U.S. state without a data breach notification law, that is.
South Dakota as become the 49th state to enact a data breach notification law, which take effect on July 1. The South Dakota law follows the pattern of the most recent notification laws, including an expansive definition of "Personal Information".

Beware of March Madness! Scammers and phishers take advantage of increased web traffic by impersonating popular March Madness websites, including bracket sites and game live streams. Will your employees take the bait?

A circuit split on whether actual misuse of personal data is required to have standing to assert data breach claims remains unresolved. Last week the Supreme Court rejected a petition to review that issue in CareFirst v. Attias.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear arguments in United States v. Microsoft Corp., in which the court will decide whether a US technology service provider, Microsoft, must obey a search warrant for data stored in a foreign country.

Mintz Levin Benefits attorney Patricia Moran recently authored an article for  the Society for Human Resources Management's latest publication describing the cybersecurity risks involved with 401(k) Plan sponsorship.

We've discussed privacy compliance with regulations, legal requirements, etc. in the space since this blog's inception. "Privacy by design" - while not a new concept - is certainly enjoying a new spot in the sunshine thanks to the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR") (93 days and counting...) and its codification of "privacy by design and default" in Article 25.

If your company is one of the broad group of businesses licensed by the New York Department of Financial Services (NY DFS), a very important deadline is bearing down on February 15. Regulated entities have under Thursday to attest to their compliance with the first-in-the-U.S. cybersecurity regulations (details and links are in blog post below). 

In case you had not heard, the European Union is replacing its current privacy laws with a new, comprehensive General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which takes effect May 25, 2018.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in what may become one of the defining consumer privacy cases of our generation. The central question in Carpenter v. United States asks whether the government violates the Fourth Amendment by accessing an individual’s historical cell phone locations records without a warrant.

The European Commission has launched a new data protection website aimed at educating the public and helping businesses and other organizations comply with their new obligations under the General Data Protection Regulation.

Recently, there has been a lot of discussion regarding the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities. This alert provides a simple overview of what these vulnerabilities are, what systems could be affected, as well as steps that companies can take to reduce the risks that these vulnerabilities create.

Happy 2018. You may notice a new widget in the right sidebar of our home page. Now you have a reminder as to just how close we are to the GDPR D-Day. GDPR is real. GDPR is here.

This month’s issue examines four recent rulings from Seventh Circuit trial courts regarding an FCC rule under the TCPA that mandates opt-out language on solicited faxes, or those sent with the recipient’s consent.