The Internal Revenue Service previously announced in November 2021, that it would use facial recognition technology offered by ID.me to authenticate taxpayers before using any online services the IRS provides, including...more
CYBERSECURITY -
FBI Warns Olympics/Paralympics Participants of Cyber “Activities” -
On January 31, 2022, the FBI issued a Private Industry Notification entitled “Potential for Malicious Cyber Activities to Disrupt the...more
2/4/2022
/ Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Customer-Loyalty Programs ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Collection ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Drones ,
FBI ,
Information Governance ,
Internet of Things ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Popular ,
Vulnerability Assessments
New Mexico’s Attorney General, Hector Balderas, continues to champion children’s online privacy protections, this time settling with Google over alleged violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). ...more
CYBERSECURITY -
CISA Issues Incident Response + Vulnerability Response Playbooks for Executive Branch -
The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued the Cybersecurity Incident & Vulnerability Response...more
11/19/2021
/ Connected Items ,
Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Costco ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Collection ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Debit and Credit Card Transactions ,
Homeland Security Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) ,
Information Governance ,
Personal Data ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Popular ,
Vulnerability Assessments
Illinois’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) continues to be a problem for employers who are using biometric information such as palm readers or fingerprint timekeeping software....more
In a second case against stalkerware apps and the first where the FTC has banned a company from doing business, the FTC announced on September 1, 2021, that it has “banned SpyFone and its CEO…from the surveillance business...more
As a former Assistant Attorney General, I have a soft place in my heart for Attorneys General as consumer protection advocates. Most state AGs have the primary jurisdiction to enforce compliance with consumer protection laws...more
In an unusual but significant move, on August 4, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) removed Aristotle International from the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Safe Harbor List. ...more
This is not the first post discussing location-based services on mobile phones. And it won’t be the last. After reading my colleague’s post on the priest who resigned from his high-profile position after his location was tied...more
7/22/2021
/ Data Collection ,
Geolocation ,
Location Data ,
Location Privacy ,
Mobile Apps ,
Mobile Devices ,
Privacy Concerns ,
Privacy Policy ,
Privacy Settings ,
Telecommunications ,
Tracking Systems
Ever since the enactment of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), we have been watching the development of laws around the collection, use, disclosure and retention of biometric information....more
6/10/2021
/ Biometric Information ,
Biometric Information Privacy Act ,
Compliance Management Systems ,
Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Data Collection ,
Employee Privacy Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Facial Recognition Technology ,
Fingerprints ,
Personal Data ,
Personally Identifiable Information
Once again, Apple is leading the pack on privacy and implementing new privacy controls, starting next week. What does this mean for you?...more
Many individuals already use facial recognition technology to authenticate and authorize payment through their smartphone. According to Jupiter Research, by 2025 (only four years away), 95 percent of smartphones will have...more
4/15/2021
/ Biometric Information ,
Data Collection ,
Data Privacy ,
Facial Recognition Technology ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Fingerprints ,
Fraud ,
Mobile Apps ,
Mobile Payments ,
Personal Data ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Privacy Policy ,
Smartphones ,
Spotify ,
Terms of Use
I once drove over the Golden Gate Bridge in a rental car not knowing that it was a toll bridge and that no cash payment options were available. I slowly and stressfully tried to figure out what to do, but realized I had no...more
WhatsApp started notifying its 2 billion users last month about an update to its privacy policy. Most of its users probably didn’t look at the details, and simply clicked “I agree” when the notice popped up on their phones....more
Flo Health, Inc., (Flo) which offers a fertility-tracking app (Flo Period & Ovulation Tracker) used by more than 100 million customers, has agreed to settle with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to dismiss the FTC’s claims...more
Users of the Parler social media platform who participated in the riots last week at the U.S. Capitol are reportedly uneasy following the announcement that several activist hackers archived posts as they were happening in...more
1/15/2021
/ Activist ,
Data Collection ,
Geological Data ,
GPS ,
Hackers ,
Insurrection ,
Online Commentary ,
Online Platforms ,
Political Association ,
Political Expression ,
Political Scandals ,
Social Media
Ancestry.com (Ancestry) was sued on November 30, 2020, in a putative class action case filed in the Northern District of California for “knowingly misappropriating the photographs, likenesses, names, and identities of...more
12/4/2020
/ Ancestry.com ,
Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Data Collection ,
Data Protection ,
Intrusion Upon Seclusion ,
Misappropriation ,
Name and Likeness ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Photographs ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Right of Publicity ,
Unfair Competition Law (UCL) ,
Unjust Enrichment
On September 9, 2020, the Portland, Oregon City Council voted unanimously to ban the use of facial recognition technology by the city government, including the police department, following similar actions by the cities of...more
9/14/2020
/ Biometric Information ,
Data Collection ,
Discrimination ,
Facial Recognition Technology ,
Invasion of Privacy ,
Law Enforcement ,
Local Ordinance ,
Personal Data ,
Public Agencies ,
Public Venues ,
State and Local Government
CYBERSECURITY -
U.S. Organizations Doing Business in China Warned of Malware in Tax Software -
The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) have issued a joint...more
8/28/2020
/ ALEXA ,
Amazon Echo ,
Audits ,
Automatic License Plate Readers ,
Connected Cars ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Collection ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Location Data ,
Malware ,
Motor Vehicles ,
Personal Assistants ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Popular ,
Scams ,
Websites ,
Zoom®
In Coral Gables, Florida, a judge refused to dismiss a lawsuit over the city’s use of automated license plate readers to scan license plates. This technology has faced a number of lawsuits over concerns about the collection...more
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), touted as the toughest privacy act in the country, went into effect on July 1, 2020. Although the enforcement regulations have been tweaked three times during the last year, this...more
8/21/2020
/ California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) ,
Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Collection ,
Data Management ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Information Governance ,
Personal Data ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
State and Local Government ,
State Attorneys General
I have never been a fan of TikTok. In general, I do not trust any Chinese technology companies because of the influence and requirements the Chinese government wields over them....more
8/7/2020
/ Biometric Information ,
China ,
Data Collection ,
Data Security ,
Facial Recognition Technology ,
Foreign Relations ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Mobile Apps ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Social Media ,
TikTok ,
Trump Administration
The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) has been on the books for years and is enforced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). COPPA basically prohibits companies from collecting personal information from...more
Kids are at home all day now, remote learning and surfing the web more than ever before. Parents are working from home too, and understandably are not always able to monitor and supervise their children’s computer use as much...more
On March 5, 2020, Vermont Governor Phil Scott signed into law Senate Bill 110, “An act relating to data privacy and consumer protection,” which provides authority to develop a statewide data privacy inventory of the...more
3/13/2020
/ Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Collection ,
Data Management ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Databases ,
Information Governance ,
New Legislation ,
Personal Data ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Risk Management ,
State and Local Government