A bill introduced in the House of Representatives Thursday would require the Department of Homeland Security to take a lead role in identifying and developing cybersecurity standards for systems that control critical infrastructure. The bill also would create a non-profit clearinghouse for the sharing of cybersecurity threat information between government agencies and the private sector.…

As China’s central regulators finalize several national laws with data privacy components, provincial and municipal authorities are filling in the current legislative gap by passing local regulations governing the collection of personal information. Currently at the national level, sector-specific laws target various aspects of personal information collection but no single comprehensive law exists to govern…

Employees whose personal information might have been accessed in a data breach cannot sue the breached company in federal court based only on the possibility that the breach might lead to identity theft, a federal appeals court ruled Monday. The case, Reilly v. Ceridian Corporation, is a proposed class action brought by employees whose…

Class action lawsuits are increasingly being brought against organizations that have suffered data breaches, as well as against companies that are alleged to have allowed third parties access to online or mobile users’ confidential information without authorization (for example the recent Del Vecchio v. Amazon and Low v. LinkedIn cases).  A repeated issue in these…

The United States District Court for the Western District of Seattle recently dismissed an online privacy case involving the alleged improper use of browser and Flash cookies in Del Vecchio v. Amazon.  Finding that the plaintiff “simply not plead adequate facts to establish any plausible harm,” this opinion follows closely on the heels of several…

The Department of Education has amended the implementing regulations for the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (“FERPA”).  According to the Department, the new regulations are intended to “safeguard student privacy while giving states the flexibility to share school data.”   
Among other things, the new regulations:

• Make it easier for educational authorities to share educational

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As we previously discussed here, the House of Representatives is considering a bill to amend the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”). The bill, known as the Mobile Informational Call Act of 2011 (H.R. 3035), has bipartisan and industry support but also has drawn opposition from some consumer groups and state attorneys general.…