In This Issue:

- Ramifications of the Target Data Breach

- California Federal Judge Winnows Down Massive Privacy Class Action

- White House Launches “Big Data” Review

- Senator Rockefeller Issues Data Broker Report

- Appointment of New European Data Protection Supervisor on Hold

- FTC Takes Action Against Twelve Companies for Safe Harbor Violations

- NIST Abandons Controversial Privacy Appendix

- Amended Australian Privacy Law Goes into Effect

- The Internet of Things — What You Need to Know

- Introduction:

We thought it appropriate to release the January edition of our Privacy & Cybersecurity Update on January 28, 2014 — the sixth international Data Privacy Day. January 28 commemorates the January 28, 1981, signing of Convention 108 — the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data. Enacted by the Council of Europe, Convention 108 was the first legally binding international treaty dealing with privacy and data protection. Today, Data Privacy Day is used by many organizations to remind employees of their data privacy and security obligations.

The data privacy and security industry got off to a roaring start in 2014 with important developments on multiple fronts, including data breaches at Target and other retailers, FTC activity on Safe Harbor certifications, executive branch activity on “big data” and data breach class actions. We review these important developments, and others, below.