PRIVACY + SECURITY BLOG

News, Developments, and Insights

FERPA Whiteboard and FERPA Interactive Whiteboard

Recently, I created two new FERPA training resources. FERPA Whiteboard I created a 1-page visual summary of FERPA, which I call the FERPA Whiteboard.  The idea was to summarize HIPAA in a concise and visually-engaging way.  You can download a PDF handout version here.  We’ve been licensing it to many organizations for training and awareness purposes. […]

Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, and Humanity’s Future: An Interview with Evan Selinger

Recently published by Cambridge University Press, Re-Engineering Humanity explores how artificial intelligence, automated decisionmaking, the increasing use of Big Data are shaping the future of humanity. This excellent interdisciplinary book is co-authored by Professors Evan Selinger and Brett Frischmann, and it critically examines three interrelated questions. Under what circumstances can using technology make us more like simple machines than actualized human […]

Cartoon: GDPR Experts

This cartoon makes fun of the fact that these days, there seem to be so many GDPR experts.  There are, indeed, many experts who know a lot about GDPR.  The problem is that there are a lot more “experts” out there who know only a little about GDPR.

GDPR: Days Away Yet Miles to Go

May 25, 2018 is just around the corner.  That’s the date when GDPR enforcement starts.  Many organizations are scrambling to address GDPR compliance. But many still don’t even know what GDPR is.  A recent survey [link no longer available] conducted of EU citizens and EU companies reveals some interesting details about GDPR preparation and compliance […]

Cartoon: Dark Web

I hope you enjoy my latest cartoon about passwords on the Dark Web.  These days, it seems, login credentials and other personal data are routinely stocking the shelves of the Dark Web.  Last year, a hacker was peddling 117 million LinkedIn user email and passwords. And, late last year, researchers found a file with 1.4 billion passwords […]

The Cambridge Handbook of Consumer Privacy

Evan Seligner, Jules Polonetsky, and Omer Tene have just published a terrific edited volume of essays called The Cambridge Handbook of Consumer Privacy.  This is a truly impressive collection of writings by a wide array of authors from academia and practice. There’s a robust diversity of viewpoints on wide-ranging and cutting-edge issues.  The book has […]

Should Privacy Law Regulate Technological Design? An Interview with Woodrow Hartzog

Hot off the press is Professor Woodrow Hartzog’s new book, Privacy’s Blueprint: The Battle to Control the Design of New Technologies (Harvard Univ. Press 2018). This is a fascinating and engaging book about a very important and controversial topic: Should privacy law regulate technological design?

In re Zappos: The 9th Circuit Recognizes Data Breach Harm

In In re Zappos.com, Inc., Customer Data Security Breach Litigation (9th Cir., Mar. 8, 2018), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit issued a decision that represents a more expansive way to understand data security harm.  The case arises out of a breach where hackers stole personal data on 24 million+ individuals.  Although […]

Breach Notification Laws Now in All 50 States

Recently, South Dakota and Alabama passed data breach notification laws.  These were the last two states to pass such laws, and now all 50 states have breach notification laws.  There’s also a federal breach notification requirement under HIPAA (passed with the HITECH Act of 2009). In 2003, California passed the first data breach notification law.  […]

Cartoon: GDPR Compliance

Organizations are racing to get ready for the GDPR implementation date of May 25, 2018.  Complete GDPR compliance in a few months is likely not feasible for many organizations, but this shouldn’t mean that these organizations should give up.  Making a good-faith effort and continuing to strive to improve are quite worthwhile.