PRIVACY + SECURITY BLOG

News, Developments, and Insights

Cartoon: Cookies and the GDPR

This cartoon depicts how, after the GDPR, countless websites have cookie notices and require agreeing to accept cookies.  I find these cookie notices to be form over substance.  These notices are virtually meaningless and don’t help consumers. They are a nuisance.  They give privacy a bad name because people start to think that privacy is […]

Entering the New Age of Privacy in the US: Learning from GDPR — An Interview with Daniel Barber

I had the chance to interview Daniel Barber, CEO and Co-founder of DataGrail. DataGrail is a purpose-built privacy management platform that ensures sustained compliance with the GDPR, CCPA, and forthcoming regulations. Their customers span a variety of industries and include Databricks, Plexus Worldwide, TRI Pointe Homes, Outreach, Intercom, and SaaStr. Daniel and I spoke about the lessons […]

ALI Data Privacy: Overview and Black Letter Text — Available for Download

Professor Paul Schwartz and I have posted the black letter text of the American Law Institute (ALI), Principles of the Law, Data Privacy. Professor Paul Schwartz and I were co-reporters on the project.  Earlier this year, I wrote a post about our completion of the project.  According to the ALI press release: “The Principles seek to […]

Establishing a Robust Law School Educational Program for Privacy Law

Recently, the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) released a ranking of law schools based on their educational programs in privacy law.  Although I applaud the effort to focus more attention on the issue of teaching privacy law in law schools, there are many aspects of the project that I would do differently.  In this […]

First OCR Enforcement of HIPAA’s Right of Access

Days after my recent blog post on the HIPAA Right of Access, the OCR released details of their first enforcement action for violation of the Right of Access. The complaint, received in August 2018, involved a mother who waited over 9 months to receive prenatal records from Bayfront Health in St. Petersburg.  She requested the […]

The Failure of HIPAA’s Right of Access

One of the biggest sore spots in HIPAA compliance has been providing individuals with their right to access their medical records. In addition to the countless anecdotal accounts about the painful process of getting medical records, a recent study demonstrated just how far there is to go for providers to be in compliance.  More than […]

The FTC Can Rise to the Privacy Challenge, but Not Without Help From Congress

Over at Lawfare, I have an essay co-authored by Chris Hoofnagle and Woodrow Hartzog called The FTC Can Rise to the Privacy Challenge, but Not Without Help From Congress.  This piece is also posted at the Brooking Institution’s TechTank.  The essay begins: Facebook’s recent settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has reignited debate over whether the […]

Cartoon on Data Breach

This cartoon is about evolution of data breaches, which began to grab headlines back in 2005, thanks in large part to California’s data breach notification law — the first of such laws.  Since that time, every state has passed breach notification laws, and there are breach notification laws sprouting up around the world.  Every day, […]

Profiling and the GDPR: An interview with Mark Singer and Raf Sanchez

I had the opportunity to interview Mark Singer and Raf Sanchez, both at Beazley, about the issue of profiling and the GDPR. Mark Singer is a member of the Cyber & Executive Risk Group at Beazley. Mark handles insurance coverage issues arising out of cybersecurity, technology errors and omissions, data privacy, intellectual property, media and advertising liabilities. Raf […]