October 2010

Individual plaintiffs have not had much success bringing private actions against businesses affected by security breaches.  In particular, a number of courts have held that the abstract risk of identity theft is not a cognizable injury.  And most recently, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court has determined that even those individuals actually victimized by identity theft…

Last month, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee held a hearing on S. 3742, the “Data Security and Breach Notification Act of 2010.”   This legislation was introduced by Senator Mark Pryor (D-AR) and Senator John D. Rockefeller (D-WV).  It is the Senate version of data security legislation sponsored in the House of Representatives…

Courts have started to address the tricky — but important — question of whether IP addresses are personal information in which users have a right to privacy — statutory or otherwise. 
Most recently, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia found that “Internet subscribers do not have an expectation of privacy in their…