By Anna Kraus
Last Thursday, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released the preliminary regulatory review plans of 30 federal agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The regulatory review plans were mandated by President Obama in an executive order issued earlier this year, and are intended to identify initiatives to…
A new bill has been introduced in the Illinois legislature that would make it illegal for employers to ask prospective employees for access to their social network profiles. The bill, H.B. 3782, would amend the Illinois Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act to provide that employers may not ask job applicants for any username,…
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently launched a website devoted to helping small businesses with cybersecurity. The site offers tips for small businesses facing online security issues and provides links to other sources of guidance. The tips apply to all small businesses, not just those operating in fields subject to FCC regulation. The launch coincides…
Late yesterday the UK ICO issued a new press release and guidance on its plans to enforce the new UK “cookie regulation,” which was enacted by the UK Government to implement the EU’s e-Privacy Directive. The new release, which follows previous ICO guidance outlining how businesses might comply with the new rules (see…
By Anna Kraus
Last week, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued two audit reports regarding federally mandated data security measures for health information. Both reports are highly critical of HHS’s efforts to protect the security of electronic health information.
In the first report, available here…
Representatives Edward Markey and Joe Barton recently introduced the “Do Not Track Kids Act of 2011,” which would expand and modernize the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and also would introduce new privacy protections for all minors under 18.
COPPA currently prohibits operators of websites and online services from knowingly collecting, using,…
Twenty-five years after authoring the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (“ECPA”), Senator Patrick Leahy has introduced a bill, the ECPA Amendments Act of 2011 (S. 1011), that is intended to adapt the Act to the privacy and security challenges of the 21st Century. The bill would amend Title II of ECPA, commonly called…
On Monday, the Article 29 Working Party released its new Opinion on geo-location data collection and processing in smart mobile devices. The paper comes on the heels of a recent furor over the extent to which smart phones collect, process and transmit location data without the full knowledge and consent of the phone’s users. It represents…
By Elizabeth Katz As Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy prepares to introduce legislation to reform the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the Brookings Institution today held a panel on ECPA reform issues. The discussion began with a keynote address delivered by George Washington University Law School professor Orin S. Kerr. Following Mr. Kerr’s remarks, four…
Last week, Sue McAndrew, deputy director for health information privacy at the Office of Civil Rights in the Health and Human Services Department, said that OCR was “quite far along” on its efforts to adopt a final rule implementing changes to the HIPAA regulations pursuant to the HITECH Act. She added that she anticipated the…
