Privacy & Cybersecurity

This has been a big week for privacy.

At the White House today, President Obama unveiled his administration's framework for new privacy regulations and the long-awaited white paper entitled "Consumer Data Privacy in a Networked World: A Framework for Protecting Privacy and Promoting Innovation in the Global Digital Economy."

The Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) has adopted new rules that require companies to obtain prior express written consent from consumers before calling them with prerecorded telemarketing “robocalls.” 

Here is an article published in Westlaw Journal on the top 5 data security and privacy issues in 2012 (and there could be a "top 20" if we'd had the column inches!) -- a little crystal ball-gazing:

International Data Protection and Privacy Day is Monday, January 28th.
The European Commission certainly found a way to mark the day.

The Chinese Year of the Dragon started with a bang as the Supreme Court issued a much anticipated ruling in this Fourth Amendment case that was neither brave nor innovative. In United States v. Antoine Jones the Court chose to affirm the district and circuit courts’ Fourth Amendment ruling on extremely narrow grounds.

The announcement of the proposal for comprehensive reform of EU data protection rules is expected on Wednesday of this week at 12:30 PM CET (6:30 AM EST). You will be able to watch the press conference with Viviane Reding, Vice President of the EU Commission in charge of Justice streamed live.

The Israeli Law, Information and Technology Authority (ILITA), the authority in charge of enforcing privacy laws in Israel, has recently published guidelines on the use of outsourcing services for the purpose of managing and processing private information.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, the most remarkable aspect of Upromise, an online college savings program, was not how much its users saved. Rather, it was how much they were giving away.

Since it's traditionally the time for new beginnings and resolutions to clear away old habits, we'd like to pass on some tips for improving privacy and security in your operations -- and in your own life --  in 2012.

Adoption of cloud computing is certainly on the increase -- but 2011 has seen evidence of some of the risks associated with moving to the cloud. Notable among the year's data breaches was the breach at e-mail marketer Epsilon Data. 

Following on the heels of Facebook's landmark settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, a bipartisan group of members of the House of Representatives has apparently read the "new and improved" Facebook privacy policy and were not impressed.

“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 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.

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.

Senators 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.

Can you identify the major problems lurking in this one short paragraph?  We've given you some help.

In yet another privacy class action addressing the question of whether data breach claimants have suffered legally cognizable damages, the First Circuit’s ruling in Anderson v. Hannaford Bros. Co., Nos. 10-2384, 10-2450 (1st Cir. Oct. 20, 2011), reversed the trial court’s dismissal of negligence and implied contract claims arising from a 2007 breach of Hannaford’s electronic payment processing system, which resulted in the theft of 4.2 million credit card and debit card numbers.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued guidance to public companies with respect to disclosure relating to cybersecurity and data breach risks.

My colleagues, Robert Delahunt, Jr. and Matthew Levitt, have authored an excellent advisory on cyberbullying that should be required reading for every parent.