As mobile devices and other technology utilize location-based data and maintain more detailed records than ever before, pre-existing laws and regulations may not properly govern how to treat this data as it was not foreseen at the time of writing, and as a result new privacy issues arise. The U.S. is considering two separate bills
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An internal IRS document explicitly states that emails sent from an individual’s computer do not have reasonable expectations of privacy and lose Fourth Amendment protection allowing IRS investigators to view private emails, messages and other communications without requiring a search warrant. Although some precedent has been set in recent U.S. federal court cases, the IRS’
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The California Supreme court is considering a class action suit against Apple for collecting personal information for online transactions which goes against regulations put forth in the state’s Song-Beverly Credit Card Act. Several other major retailers are backing Apple arguing that the previous legislation was only intended for brick-and-mortar transactions, and the outcome of the
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Both the United States and European Union have been actively pursuing new regulations and legislation related to consumer privacy issues, data breach and data security, as well as investigations into competitive pricing and antitrust concerns. Consumer privacy regulations have also expanded in Latin America and Asia-Pacific over recent years. The Fraud Practice provides a summary of
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In recent years it has become more common for employers to require job applicants and current employees to provide their passwords for social networking sites so their accounts can be screened. The newly proposed Password Protection Act, however, aims to put a stop to this practice as a condition of employment. Read More
On May 9 the U.S. Senate held a discussion on the proposed Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights which seeks to establish the framework for legislation that will require transparency and individual control on what personal data companies collect from consumers online and how it is used. Read More
The Federal Trade Commission has accused the social networking website Myspace of providing user data to third parties without user consent while Google will likely receive the first ever FTC fine for Internet privacy violations after planting cookies that bypassed Apple’s Safari web browser’s privacy settings. Read More
In late April the House of Representatives voted in favor of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) and the bill now moves on to a vote by the Senate. The bill would create a voluntary system where private companies could share information about cyber-attacks to national security agencies in the U.S. while receiving
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It is often difficult for consumers to understand and manage the vast amounts of information that is collected and stored when they go online, engage in commerce or even use mobile apps. The storage, sale and transmission of such information, even though it is bought by legitimate companies and advertisers, often leads to data compromises
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