PRIVACY + SECURITY BLOG

News, Developments, and Insights

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Should the FTC Kill the Password? The Case for Better Authentication

Co-authored by Professor Woodrow Hartzog. Authentication presents one of the greatest security challenges organizations face. How do we accurately ensure that people seeking access to accounts or data are actually whom they say they are? People need to be able to access accounts and data conveniently, and access must often be provided remotely, without being […]

Big Brother on the Cover: 50+ Covers for George Orwell’s 1984

Privacy Training Blog Big Brother Is Watching You Poster

by Daniel J. Solove One of the most well-known classic privacy books is George Orwell’s 1984, and it has been published in countless editions around the world.  I enjoy collecting things, and I’ve gathered up more than 50 book covers of various editions of the novel.  I find it interesting how various artists and designers […]

Understanding the FTC on Privacy and Security

Privacy Training Blog FTC

by Daniel J. Solove I recently held a webinar about the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for TRUSTe called Understanding the FTC on Privacy and Security.   The webinar is free and is archived at TRUSTe’s site. Here is a brief synopsis of the webinar: For the past nearly two decades, the FTC has risen to […]

OPM Data Breach Fallout, Fingerprints, and Other Privacy + Security Updates

By Daniel J. Solove Co-authored by Professor Paul Schwartz This post is part of a post series where we round up some of the interesting news and resources we’re finding. For a PDF version of this post, and for archived issues of previous posts, click here. We cover health issues in a separate post. News […]

Going Bankrupt with Your Personal Data

By Daniel J. Solove   A recent New York Times article discusses the issue of what happens to your personal data when companies go bankrupt or are sold to other companies: When sites and apps get acquired or go bankrupt, the consumer data they have amassed may be among the companies’ most valuable assets. And […]

Baseball’s “Hacking” Case: Are You a Hacker Too?

By Daniel J. Solove   I’m a St. Louis Cardinals fan, so I guess it is fitting that my favorite team becomes embroiled in a big privacy and data security incident.  At the outset, apologies for the feature photo above.  It pulled up under a search for “baseball hacker,” and as a collector of ridiculous […]

The OPM Data Breach: Harm Without End?

By Daniel J. Solove The recent breach of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) network involved personal data on millions of federal employees, including data related to background checks. OPM is now offering 18 months of free credit monitoring and identity theft insurance to victims. But as experts note in a recent Washington Post article, […]

Boards of Directors Must Grapple with Privacy and Cybersecurity

By Daniel J. Solove Privacy and cybersecurity have become issues that should be addressed at the board level. No longer minor risks, privacy and cybersecurity have become existential issues. The costs and reputational harm of privacy and security incidents can be devastating. Yet not enough boards are adequately engaged with these issues. According to a […]

Green Eggs and Ham: How Not to Market and Invade Privacy

By Daniel J. Solove Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham is a timeless classic that is read to millions of children. At first the simple rhymes and cute drawings are alluring. But parents will soon discover the book’s terrifying equation: The tiresome repetition of the book multiplied by the number of times a child will […]