On May 19, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed into law Public Act No. 15-6, titled “An Act Concerning Employee Online Privacy.” The act applies to both employees and job applicants and prohibits employers from requiring or requesting employees or applicants to…
Posts by Category: Data Protection & Privacy
Privacy Industry Index (PII): Data Breach Vendors
Protecting data has value and you have to invest to make sure that data is properly protected. Businesses must work with a large collection of vendors from a variety of disciplines to reach their privacy goals. From the legal advisors to the insurance companies to the…
Wisconsin Adopts Password Protection Law
Wisconsin has become the thirteenth state to enact a law limiting the circumstances under which employers may request or require access to the personal internet accounts of applicants and employees. The 2013 Wisconsin Act 208, which amends the Wisconsin Fair…
Two Data Brokers Settle FTC Charges That They Sold Consumer Data Without Complying With Protections Required Under the FCRA
Two data brokers have agreed to settle FTC charges that they violated the FCRA by providing reports about consumers to users such as prospective employers and landlords without taking reasonable steps to make sure that they were accurate, or without making sure their…
2014 Data Protection and Breach Readiness Guide 2014 Breach Report Highlights:
89% of breaches and data loss incidents could have been prevented 740 million records disclosed 31% of insiders were due to insider threats or mistakes 21% of the incidents were the result of physical loss (PC, drive, notebooks, paper documents..) 40% of the top…
U.S. Congress Ready to Enact Data Security and Breach Notification Rules After Recent Consumer Data Breaches
In view of the recent spate of cyber attacks on retailers and the patchwork of existing laws that greatly complicate a company’s data breach response, Congress appears ready to create a national data protection and breach notification law that, in theory, would…
Is FCRA’s Prohibition on CRAs from Disclosing Truthful Public Information Constitutional?
The Southern District of California has granted the United States’ motion to intervene in Dowell v. General Information Services, Inc. (GIS), to defend the constitutionality of 15 U.S.C. § 1681c, a provision of the FCRA. GIS contends that subsections (a)(2) and…
Ex-NSA Chief Details Snowden’s Hiring at Agency, Booz Allen
Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor who leaked information about the agency’s surveillance program, targeted Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. for employment because of its access to national security contracts, said company vice chairman, Mike McConnell. McConnell…
FTC Reaches Settlement With Accretive Health on Inadequate Data Security
On December 31, 2013, the Federal Trade Commission announced that Accretive Health, Inc. (“Accretive”) has agreed to settle charges that the company’s inadequate data security measures unfairly exposed sensitive consumer information to the risk of…
Workplace Privacy 2014: What’s New and What Employers May Expect
New laws that went into effect on January 1, 2014, are a harbinger of what employers may expect to see in the coming year regarding workplace privacy: more restrictions on access to applicants’ and employees’ criminal history, credit information, and…