PRIVACY + SECURITY BLOG

News, Developments, and Insights

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New Edition of Privacy Law Fundamentals

Privacy Law Fundamentals

I’m pleased to announce that a new 4th edition of my short guide, PRIVACY LAW FUNDAMENTALS  (IAPP 2017)  (co-authored with Professor Paul Schwartz) is now out in print.  This edition incorporates extensive developments in privacy law and includes an introductory chapter summarizing key new laws, cases and enforcement actions.

Privacy Law Fundamentals is designed with an accessible, portable format to deliver vital information in a concise (318 pages) and digestible manner. It includes key provisions of privacy statutes; leading cases; tables summarizing the statutes (private rights of action, preemption, liquidated damages, etc.); summaries of key state privacy laws; and an overview of FTC, FCC, and HHS enforcement actions.

“This is the essential primer for all privacy practitioners.” — David A. Hoffman, Intel Corp.

“In our fast-paced practice, there’s nothing better than a compact and accessible work that is curated by two of the great thinkers of the field.  It is a gem.” — Kurt Wimmer, Covington & Burling LLP

“Two giants of privacy scholarship succeed in distilling their legal expertise into an essential guide for a broad range of the privacy community.” — Jules Polonetsky, Future of Privacy Forum

“This book is my go-to reference for when I need quick, accurate information on privacy laws across sectors and jurisdictions.” — Nuala O’Connor, Center for Democracy and Technology

You can get a copy at IAPP’s bookstore or at Amazon.  For general information about this book as well as all my textbooks and useful resources, visit our Information Privacy Law textbook website.

The full table of contents is below:

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A Brief History of Information Privacy Law

I recently updated my book chapter, A Brief History of Information Privacy Lawwhich appears in the new edition of PLI’s Proskauer on Privacy.

This book chapter, originally written in 2006 and updated in 2016, provides a brief history of information privacy law, with a primary focus on United States privacy law. It discusses the development of the common law torts, Fourth Amendment law, the constitutional right to information privacy, numerous federal statutes pertaining to privacy, electronic surveillance laws, and more. It explores how the law has emerged and evolved in response to new technologies that have increased the collection, dissemination, and use of personal information.

The chapter can be downloaded for free here.

Here is the table of contents:

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Epilogue to the St. Louis Cardinals Baseball Hacking Case

St Louis Cardinals Hacking Baseball

A while ago, I wrote about a case involving a member of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team staff who improperly accessed a database of the Houston Astros.   There is now an epilogue to report in the case.  The individual who engaged in the illegal access — a scouting director named Chris Correa — was fired by the Cardinals, imprisoned for 46 months, and banned permanently from baseball.  The Cardinals were fined $2 million by Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred, and they must forfeit their first two picks in the draft to the Houston Astros.

According to an article about the incident in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “As outlined in court documents, the U.S. attorney illustrated how Correa hacked Houston’s internal database, ‘Ground Control,’ 48 times during a 2½-year period. He viewed scouting reports, private medical reviews and other proprietary information. The government argued that Correa may have sought to determine if Houston borrowed the Cardinals’ data or approach, but the information he accessed was ‘keenly focused on information that coincided with the work he was doing for the Cardinals.'”

As I wrote in my piece about the case, there are several lessons to be learned.  One lesson is that it is a myth that hacking and computer crime must be hi-tech.  Here, Correa’s hacking was nothing sophisticated — he just used another person’s password.  The person had previously worked for the Cardinals, and when he went to the Astros, he kept using the same password.  In my piece, I discussed other lessons from this incident, such as the importance of teaching people good password practices as well as teaching people that just because they have access to information doesn’t make it legal to view the information.  The Cardinals organization appears to have learned from the incident, as the “employee manual has been updated to illustrate what is illegal activity online,” and the organization is using two-factor authentication to protect its own sensitive data.  The article doesn’t say whether the Astros also stepped up their security awareness training by teaching employees not to reuse their old passwords from another team.

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The Future of the FTC on Privacy and Security

Future of the FTC

Co-authored by Professor Woodrow Hartzog

The Federal Trade Commission is the most important federal agency regulating privacy and security. Its actions and guidance play a significant role in setting the privacy agenda for the entire country. With the Trump Administration about to take control, and three of the five Commissioner seats open, including the Chairperson, a lot could change at the FTC. But dramatic change is not common at the agency. What will likely happen with the FTC’s privacy and security enforcement over the next four years?

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Free Download: The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor, and Privacy on the Internet

 

Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor and Privacy on the Internet

 

I am now offering the full text of my book The Future of Reputation:  Gossip, Rumor, and Privacy on the Internet (Yale University Press 2007) online for FREE download.

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The Digital Person: Technology and Privacy in the Information Age

 

Digital Person: Technology and Privacy in the Information Age

 

I am now offering the full text of my book The Digital Person:  Technology and Privacy in the Information Age (NYU Press 2004) online for FREE download.

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The Funniest Hacker Stock Photos 3.0

Hacker Santa

It’s time for a third installment of the funniest hacker stock photos.  Because I create information security awareness training (and HIPAA security training too), I’m always in the hunt for hacker photos.   There are so many absurd ones that I can make enough Funniest Hacker Stock Photo posts to keep pace with Disney in making new Star Wars movies!

If you’re interested in the previous posts in this series see:
The Funniest Hacker Stock Photos 2.0
The Funniest Hacker Stock Photos 1.0

So without further ado, here are this year’s pictures:

Hacker Stock Photo #1

Funniest Hacker Stock Photo - TeachPrivacy Security Awareness Training

This hacker hacks the Amish way — without the use of technology or electricity.   Who needs a computer when a good old magnifying glass will suffice?  The key to this technique is to be very sneaky.  For seasoned hackers who steadfastly believe in doing things the old-fashioned way, this is how it is done!   As this hacker says: “Yes, grandson, we had to walk six miles in the snow and hack with magnifying glasses . . . you young folks have it so easy these days!”

Hacker Stock Photo #2

Funniest Hacker Stock Photo - TeachPrivacy Security Awareness Training

Why use just one magnifying glass when you can use two?  Magnifying glasses are really important to read tiny text on computer screens.  Figuring out how to enlarge the font in Windows can be tricky, and good hackers figure out “hacks” to make things faster and easier.

Hacker Stock Photo #3

Funniest Hacker Stock Photos -- TeachPrivacy Information Security Awareness Training

I’m not entirely sure what this guy is doing, but I presume that he’s so good of a hacker than he can hack with the screen facing in the wrong direction.  The only problem is that there’s nothing on his computer screen — I think he needs to stop smiling and start working a bit harder.

Hacker Stock Photo #4

Funniest Hacker Stock Photos

In an earlier edition of this series, I commented extensively on hacker gloves.  In this edition, it’s time to turn to the masks hackers wear.  I’ve always wondered why so many hackers wear masks.  Isn’t a good hacker supposed to be hard to trace?  After extensive research, I have learned that hackers wear masks because when they hack from halfway across the world and try to conceal their tracks, they might somehow mess up and accidentally expose their faces from their webcams.   Or, maybe it’s just a fashion statement.  I still have more research to do about this very important question — I’m just waiting for some funding to support this important research.

Regarding the mask above, it’s part of a new trend.  Ordinary hackers wear ninja masks, but that’s starting to become a bit passe among hacker fashion experts.  Trend leaders are wearing much more elaborate masks these days.

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Notable Privacy and Security Books 2016

Notable Privacy Security Books 2016 - TeachPrivacy 01

Here are some notable books on privacy and security from 2016. To see a more comprehensive list of nonfiction works about privacy and security, Professor Paul Schwartz and I maintain a resource page on Nonfiction Privacy + Security Books.

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When Do Data Breaches Cause Harm?

 

Harm has become the key issue in data breach cases. During the past 20 years, there have been hundreds of lawsuits over data breaches. In many cases, the plaintiffs have evidence to establish that reasonable care wasn’t used to protect their data. But the cases have often been dismissed because courts conclude that the plaintiffs have not suffered harm as a result of the breach. Some courts are beginning to recognize harm, leading to significant inconsistency and uncertainty in this body of law.

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Hacking Cartoon: All Too Easy

Cartoon Hacker Quits - TeachPrivacy Security Awareness Training

Hacking is easy.  My latest cartoon is based on the fact that many hacking attacks involve rather simple and common tactics.  Why try the hard stuff when the easy stuff works so well?  All it takes is for one person to fall for a social engineering trick, and the hackers can break in.

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