PRIVACY + SECURITY BLOG

News, Developments, and Insights

Cartoon: Data Use and Transparency

Wouldn’t it be nice if companies were completely transparent in their privacy notices?  Typically, privacy notices are filled with long clunky prose that manages to say hardly anything meaningful to consumers.  These notices are written by lawyers who carefully craft every sentence so that they won’t pin down a company.  The drafters of privacy notices […]

Cartoon: Algorithmic Transparency

This cartoon is about algorithmic transparency. Today, more and more decisions are being made by algorithms.  The logic and functioning of these algorithms is increasingly complex and opaque to people. Today, the new buzzwords are “artificial intelligence” and “machine learning.”  AI and machine learning represent a number of different but related things, but what they […]

Cartoon: Multi-Jurisdictional Privacy Law Compliance

This cartoon depicts the challenges of multi-jurisdictional privacy law compliance. In 2018, organizations scrambled to comply with the GDPR.  In 2019, businesses are scrambling to comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).  And, there will be a new referendum on privacy law in California next year — CCPA 2.0.  There’s a flurry of legislative […]

Developing a Multi-Jurisdictional Approach to Privacy Laws — An Interview with K Royal

I’m thrilled to interview K Royal, Senior Director, Western Region, Privacy, at TrustArc. K has had a long career in privacy law, having served as privacy counsel for several companies. She’s also an adjunct professor at Arizona State University. Prof Solove: What is the need for a multi-jurisdictional approach to privacy laws? K Royal: With the European […]

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 […]