Breaches of our personal information through hacking of data bases is becoming all too common. A third of Americans’ personal information was compromised in healthcare breaches in 2015. We have become numb to the fact that...more
In the ongoing saga of Facebook’s challenge of the Illinois Biometric Law, it declared last week that the Illinois law violates the United State Constitution.
According to Facebook’s Answer in a suit filed against it in...more
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently announced that it has entered into a settlement with BNV Home Care Agency, Inc. (BNV) for $125,000 for violations of the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination...more
On Monday, October 24, 2016, the Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued proposed cybersecurity guidance to the auto industry, including auto manufacturers and designers...more
I travel a lot and frequently rent cars in cities all over the country. Those of you who know me, (and my husband and children will attest), know that I will not ask for directions. I am definitely more like a man than a...more
9/19/2016
/ Cars ,
Cell Phones ,
Connected Cars ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Data Collection ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Geolocation ,
GPS ,
Location Data ,
Privacy Concerns ,
Smart Car ,
Smartphones ,
Tracking Systems
Niantic Inc. (Niantic), developer of the mobile game “Pokémon GO,” was sued in Florida court on July 27, 2016. The named plaintiff, David Beckman filed the complaint against Niantic claiming the game’s terms of service and...more
8/5/2016
/ Data Collection ,
Geolocation ,
Location Data ,
Mobile Apps ,
Niantic Inc. ,
Nintendo ,
Pokemon ,
Popular ,
Privacy Policy ,
Smartphones ,
Technology ,
Terms of Service ,
Unfair Trade Practices Act ,
Video Games
When you start needing longer arms to read restaurant menus in the candlelight, you might consider downloading a flashlight app to use with your reading glasses.
But before you download it, first be aware that your...more
Pokémon GO has been downloaded 7.5 million times in the U.S. alone. It has been reported that it has surpassed Twitter. If you are enjoying the game, you should know how it is collecting and using your information....more
Passwords are a pain to keep track of and it is well known that consumers use the same password for multiple platforms because none of us can remember multiple complex passwords. When a hacker obtains one password, they can...more
On June 15, 2016, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) issued its facial recognition best practices, which were developed by a multi-stakeholder group convened by...more
On June 9, 2016, Governor Dannel Malloy, who continues to show his commitment to data privacy, signed An Act Concerning Student Data Privacy into law, effective October 1, 2016.
The law requires any local or regional...more
On May 26, 2016, Illinois Senator Terry Link filed a proposed amendment to the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act that would presumably ease the rules relating to the collection and use of biometric data. What irked...more
I have commented before on the use of location based services on mobile telephones and that apps (and your telecommunications provider) use and sell your location data for all sorts of purposes without your knowledge. The...more
5/6/2016
/ Advertising ,
Billboards ,
Clear Channel ,
Data Collection ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Geolocation ,
Location Data ,
Location Privacy ,
Mobile Apps ,
Mobile Devices ,
Privacy Concerns ,
Tracking Systems ,
Vehicle Tracking
Using our fingerprints to unlock our smartphones is pretty commonplace at this point. Sweden’s Fingerprint Cards (FPC), a business specializing in biometrics, says that fingerprint identification will become the fastest...more
We previously reported that Shutterfly’s effort to dismiss the proposed biometrics class action case against it was unsuccessful.
The proposed class action suit alleged that Shutterfly violated the Illinois Biometric...more
We have been following and reporting on the Facebook and Shutterfly biometrics cases in Illinois and California.
Google was recently sued by a potential class in Illinois alleging that it violated the Illinois Biometric...more
Most people don’t think about the microphone on their mobile phone unless it isn’t working. Most people don’t know that if it is on, it is working all of the time and is capturing private data that it has access to....more
In what is being described as the first case in the U.S. regarding a state biometric privacy statute, a proposed class was successful in thwarting a motion to dismiss by Shutterfly last week over its alleged practice of...more
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced last week that his office has settled its investigation of Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), over allegations that Uber executives could access an aerial view of riders’ locations...more
I am obviously a big advocate of teaching kids about privacy at a young age. Luckily, I am not alone. There is a new privacy curriculum that educators can use to help their students learn about privacy issues, their right to...more
Everyone loves their smartphone. Everyone loves the newest app. Angry Birds has lots of company now. But most people don’t know the back end of apps and how they are accessing, using and selling your data. Why? Because no one...more
10/2/2015
/ Apple ,
Cell Phones ,
Consumer Information ,
Data Collection ,
Data-Sharing ,
Geolocation ,
Grocery Stores ,
iPhone ,
Location Data ,
Location Privacy ,
Mobile Apps ,
Mobile Device Management ,
Mobile Devices ,
Mobile Privacy ,
Personal Data ,
Privacy Concerns ,
Privacy Policy ,
Privacy Settings ,
Resorts & Restaurants ,
Retailers ,
Right to Privacy ,
Smartphones
Katy Independent School District (ISD) was randomly audited by the IRS on August 5th. In order to conduct the audit, the IRS auditor had a flash drive with the names, addresses, birth dates and Social Security numbers of...more
On July 16, 2015, the Department of Education issued a request through notice to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for emergency clearance so that Federal Student Aid (FSA) can initiate a formal security assessment...more
The Department of Justice has announced that 25 year old Hieu Minh Ngo has been sentenced to 13 years in prison. His sentence was lighter than expected because he has cooperated with authorities to catch more identity...more
7/20/2015
/ Criminal Prosecution ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Data Breach ,
Data Brokers ,
Data Collection ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Fraud ,
Hackers ,
IRS ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Social Security Numbers ,
Tax Returns
Last week, LinkedIn agreed to pay $13 million and change some of the site’s features to settle a class action lawsuit filed against it in 2013 alleging that it used the Add Connections feature to access users’ email contacts...more