PRIVACY + SECURITY BLOG

News, Developments, and Insights

high-tech technology background with eyes on computer display

Covid-19 and Data Breach Litigation: An Interview of Daniel Raymond

The global pandemic has affected everything. COVID-19 is not just grinding trials to a halt and foreclosing live, in-person judicial proceedings, it has changed the class action litigation landscape, including data breach class actions. I recently had the opportunity to discuss the pandemic’s impact on data breach class actions with Daniel Raymond, a cyber & tech claims manager […]

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

Data Breach Harm and Standing: Increased Risk of Future 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 […]

Why Do Lawsuits for Data Breaches Continue Even Though the Law Is Against Plaintiffs?

by Daniel J. Solove If there’s a big data breach, the class action lawyers will start nipping like a bunch of hungry crocodiles. Upwards of forty separate lawsuits were filed against Target after its data breach, and one was filed the day after the breach became public knowledge. The law, however, has thus far been […]

Why the C-Suite Should Have Coffee with the Privacy and Security Officers Every Week

  by Daniel J. Solove As I discussed in a previous post, the two key things that organizations can do to prevent data incidents can be summed up in a simple rhyme: The C-Suite must care The workforce must be aware In this post, I want to focus on the “C-Suite” – a term used […]

Do Privacy Violations and Data Breaches Cause Harm?

by Daniel J. Solove In two earlier posts, I’ve been exploring the nature of privacy and data security harms. Post 1: Privacy and Data Security Violations: What’s The Harm? Post 2: Why the Law Often Doesn’t Recognize Privacy and Data Security Harms In this post, I want to explore two issues that frequently emerge in […]

Why the Law Often Doesn’t Recognize Privacy and Data Security Harms

by Daniel J. Solove In my previous post on privacy/security harms, I explained how the law is struggling to deal with privacy and data security harms. In this post, I will explore why. The Collective Harm Problem One of the challenges with data harms is that they are often created by the aggregation of many […]

Privacy and Data Security Violations: What’s the Harm?

by Daniel J. Solove “It’s just a flesh wound.” – Monty Python and the Holy Grail Suppose your personal data is lost, stolen, improperly disclosed, or improperly used. Are you harmed? Suppose a company violates its privacy policy and improperly shares your data with another company. Does this cause a harm? In most cases, courts […]