On January 4th the 110th U.S. congress convened for the first time, and they did not waste any time introducing many new bills. 12 of them have privacy impacts. You can find more information about each of these at the THOMAS (Library of Congress) site. However, as of today (1/10/2007), the full texts for most of these bills are not yet available online.
From the Senate:
Posts Tagged ‘privacy’
Identity Theft Examples: Used for Illegal Immigrants
Monday, January 8th, 2007UNI Computers Compromised: Is There a “Typical” Breach?
Friday, January 5th, 2007Today I read a story appearing in the Des Moines Register, “Computer breach at UNI exposes some personal data” about a breach that occurred at one my alma maters, the University of Northern Iowa.
It bothered me the non-chalant way in which a computer breach was described as being “a pretty typical breach” by the Assoc. VP for Information Technology.
It makes it sound as though such breaches are to be expected. If appropriate safeguards are in place, though, these types of breaches should not occur.
Michigan Inacts New Identity Theft and Breach Notice Law
Thursday, January 4th, 2007Yesterday (January 3) Michigan’s governor, Jennifer M. Granholm, signed a new identity theft and breach notification law, SB 309.
“Today’s technology has taken commerce and communication to new heights, but it also puts citizens at additional risk of identity theft as ever-increasing amounts of personal information are stored and transmitted electronically,” Granholm said. “While I am pleased to sign legislation that provides critical information to consumers, we must do more to provide our citizens with the tools they need to truly protect themselves.”
Insider Threat Example: Medco Employee Indicted for Planting Computer Logic Bomb
Wednesday, January 3rd, 2007On December 19, 2006, a computer systems administrator, Andy Lin, for Medco Health Solutions, Inc. was indicted by a federal grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey for attempting to disable his employer’s corporate computer servers through the use of a concealed malicious software program.
Today (January 3) Lin is being arraigned. If convicted, he could get 20 years in prison and a fine of $500,000; $250,000 for each of the two charges.
Potential Personal Data Breach of 5.38 Million Individuals at Nissan in Japan
Tuesday, January 2nd, 2007I ran across an interesting news report,”Nissan data leak puts 5 million at risk”
I was surprised I did not see this report on any of U.S. news sites. The report is very vague. It just indicates a “leak” occurred between May 2003 and February 2004. A small excerpt:
Report from Taipei: Do Visitors to the U.S. Really Have Their Emails and Credit Card Transactions Inspected?
Monday, January 1st, 2007Folks outside of the U.S. are increasinglyg being warned that going to the U.S. could result in privacy incidents, as demonstrated by another such report today in the Taipei Times, “Traveling to the US could trigger a loss of privacy”
An excerpt from the report:
Regulatory Compliance Actions Must Include Effective, ongoing Awareness and Training Efforts
Friday, December 29th, 2006A great article was published on Law.com today written by Ryan Sulkin, “First Line of Defense Against Data Security Breaches: Employees.”
There are several points made that I hope business leaders read and take to heart.
Psychotherapy Notes Fiasco and HIPAA: Bad Legislation, Bad Enforcement, or Bad Covered Entity?
Thursday, December 28th, 2006The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ran an interesting story today, “Spread of records stirs fears of privacy erosion.”
Basically this describes the trials and tribulations of a woman was denied disability benefits from her insurer following a car accident because of notes made by her psychologist. Reportedly the psychologist notes were intermingled with her general medical records.
US SAFE WEB Act Signed Into Law Today
Tuesday, December 26th, 2006Today the FTC announced President G.W. Bush signed the US SAFE WEB Act into law.
“Statement by Federal Trade Commission Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras On US SAFE WEB Act Being Signed Into Law by President George W. Bush
I am grateful to President Bush for signing the US SAFE WEB Act into law. The Act will help the Federal Trade Commission fight a range of practices that harm
American consumers – including fraudulent spam, spyware, misleading health and safety advertising, privacy and security breaches, and telemarketing fraud.
These practices are increasingly global in nature, and the US SAFE WEB Act will improve the FTC’s ability to cooperate with its foreign counterparts to combat them.”
