The Privacy Foundation
Civilization is the Progress Toward a Society of Privacy
Friday, October 30, 2009 – Is HIPAA Privacy the Elephant in the Room?
Friday Privacy Seminar is still on—- 10:00 am! (posted 4:30 pm Thursday, October 29)
Federal regulators Issue Final Model Privacy Notice Form, 11/17/09, www.pogowasright.org
Eight federal regulatory agencies today released a final model privacy notice form that will make it easier for consumers to understand how financial institutions collect and share information about consumers.
Misfired e-mail was never viewed by Gmail user, 09/29/09, www.cnetnews.com
A sensitive e-mail mistakenly sent by a bank to a Gmail address that prompted a court to order Google to deactivate the account was not viewed by the recipient and has been deleted, the bank said on Tuesday.
An F.A.Q. on the Heartland Payment Systems breach, 1/22/2009, www.pogowasright.org
Because Heartland Payment Systems has not really answered the questions of interest to consumers and bloggers like me, I thought — out of “an abundance of caution” — that I would compile what we know and create an F.A.Q. on the breach.
Customer Says Local Bank Warned Of Potential Security Breach, 1/21/2009, www.databreaches.net
Curiouser and curiouser… Forcht Bank’s spokesperson originally told a news source that they had been told by First Data Corporation that a breach involving 8,500 debit cards was due to a retail merchant.
Identity theft victims could seek compensation, 09/10/2009, www.wlkm.com
Identity theft victims will be able to seek compensation for the time and effort it takes to clean up damaged credit history under legislation approved Wednesday (September 9th) by lawmakers, state Rep. Matt Lori announced.
FTC Issues Report on Social Security Numbers and Identity Theft, 12/18/2008, www.bespacific.com
The Federal Trade Commission issued a report today recommending five measures to help prevent Social Security numbers from being used for identity theft.
UsernameCheck.com – Check your Username, 11/19/08, www.killerstartups.com
A simple service that might nonetheless come in handy sometime
Database of All UK Children Launched, 05/18/2009, www.slashdot.org
“‘A controversial database which holds the details of every child in England has now become available for childcare professionals to access.
Privacy Concerns Over Google On the Rise In Germany, 11/03/08, www.slashdot.org
After protests from several sources, major German news site Spiegel Online has dropped Google Analytics.
UK companines: Leaking Like a Sieve? , 5/12/2008, www.pogowasright.org
Most UK companies are losing data every month a survey has found.
Better safe than sorry: Express Scripts should notify everyone, 10/02/09, www.databreaches.net
Almost a year after it was contacted by an extortionist, pharmacy benefits management company Express Scripts first learned that the extortionist was in possession of at least 700,000 more members’ personal information…
FTC issues Health Breach Notification Rule, 08/18/09, www.pogowasright.org
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC” or “Commission”) is issuing this final rule…
‘Anonymized’ data really isn’t – and here’s why not, 09/08/09, www.pogowasright.org
The Massachusetts Group Insurance Commission had a bright idea back in the mid-1990s—it decided to release “anonymized” data on state employees that showed every single hospital visit.
Report: Rethinking the Role of Consent in Protecting Health Information Privacy, 1,26,2009, www.pogowasright.org
News release: “CDT today released a major policy paper intended to move the health privacy debate…
Making Sense of ACTA, 01-31-10, www.slashdot.org
This past week Guadalajara, Mexico hosted the 7th secret meeting of ACTA proponents who continue to ignore demands worldwide to open the debate to the public.
ContactPoint database of 11 million children’s details to go ahead despite security fears, 11-07-09, www.pogowasright.org
Ministers are pressing ahead with the introduction of ContactPoint to every local authority in the country after claiming that a pilot project has proved a success.
Google Dashboard lifts curtain on stored data, 11-4-09, news.cnet.com
Google is proving to be well aware of the uneasiness among the public over the increasing amount of data it stores from users of its services.
Article: From Privacy To Liberty: The Fourth Amendment After Lawrence, 10-31-090, www.pogowasright.org
This Article explores a conflict between the protections afforded interpersonal relations in Lawrence v. Texas and the vulnerability experienced under the Fourth Amendment by individuals who share their lives with others.
California Court Rejects Class Action Based on Data Collection for PII Aggregation Purposes, 10-29-09, www.pogowasright.org
On Friday, the California Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, certified for publication its October 8 opinion in Pineda v. Williams-Sonoma, the most recent in a string of decisions regarding California’s Song-Beverly Credit Card Act of 1971, California Civil Code § 1747.08.
LA Council Insists On Security Breach Penalty As It Oks Move To Google’s ‘Cloud’, 10-27-09, www.pogowasright.org
The Los Angeles City Council voted today to move the city’s 30,000 email users to a system provided by Google, but only after a provision that the city be compensated if there is security breach in the data held on Google’s servers.
Privacy, free speech, and the PATRIOT Act: First and Fourth Amendment limits on national security letters, 10-26-09, www.pogowasright.org
Congress’s passage of the Patriot Act after 9/11 expanded the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) information-gathering authority to issue national security letters (NSL). Without any judicial review, the FBI issues NSLs to telecommunications providers
TD Ameritrade settlement rejected, 10-26-09, www.databreaches.net
Josh Funk of Associated Press reports that Judge Vaughn Walker has rejected the settlement offer by TD Ameritrade. The settlement was in response to a hack in 2006 nd 2007 which exposed customer contact information on 6.3 million clients.
FTC settles latest charges against ChoicePoint, 10-19-09, www.databreaches.net
ChoicePoint, Inc., one of the nation’s largest data brokers, has agreed to strengthened data security requirements to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that the company failed to implement a comprehensive information security program protecting consumers’ sensitive information, as required by a previous court order.
New directives on border searches of electronic media, 09/27/09, www.pogowasright.org
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced new directives to enhance and clarify oversight for searches of computers and other electronic media at U.S. ports of entry.
In Warrantless Wiretapping Case, Obama DOJ’s New Arguments Are Worse Than Bush’s, 4/09/09, www.pogowasright.org
Friday evening, in a motion to dismiss Jewel v. NSA, EFF’s litigation against the National Security Agency for the warrantless wiretapping of countless Americans, the Obama Administration’s made two deeply troubling arguments.
A First Principles Approach to Communications’ Privacy, 5/17/2008, www.pogowasright.org
Under current doctrine, parties to a communication enjoy robust constitutional protection against government surveillance…
Heart Monitors in Middle School Gym Class?, 09/15/09, www.slashdot.org
My son brought home an order form from his middle school. Apparently the 7th (his grade) and 8th graders are being asked (required?) to purchase their own straps for the heart monitors…
Privacy Concerns About U.S. Database, 11/19/08, www.insidehighered.com
As a general rule, big government databases aren’t especially popular…
France Decides That Expressing An Opinion About Your Teachers Should Be Illegal, 03/04/08, www.techdirt.com
Sites like RateMyTeacher.com and RateMyProfessor.com have been around in the US for ages…
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