U.S. Customs searches have become increasingly invasive over the years. Pursuant to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) policy, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) operates under the “broad search exception”, which allows searches and seizures at international borders or an equivalent (e.g. international airports) without probable cause or a warrant. CBP’s searches are deemed
Top 10 for 2018 – Happy Data Privacy Day
This Sunday, January 28, is Data Privacy Day, which Congress recognized on Jan. 27, 2014, when it adopted S. Res. 337, supporting the designation. As noted by the National Cyber Security Alliance, Data Privacy Day began in the United States and Canada in January 2008, an extension of the Data Protection Day celebration
Connecticut Supreme Court: Health Care Providers Can Be Sued for Unauthorized Disclosures of Confidential Information
Physician practices and other health care providers respond to numerous requests for confidential patient information from patients and others. Mistakes made by employees fulfilling such requests for medical records or making similar disclosures can expose the practice to civil litigation. A recent decision by the Connecticut Supreme Court (Byrne v. Avery Center for Obstetrics
North Carolina AG Proposes Stronger Breach Notification and Personal Information Safeguard Requirements
Citing to estimates in 2017 “more than 5.3 million North Carolinians were … affected by a data breach,” Attorney General Josh Stein and Rep. Jason Saine announced on January 8 proposed legislation aimed at protecting state residents from becoming victims of identity theft. To do so, the “Act to Strengthen Identity Theft Protections” (see fact
SCOTUS Will Not Review CFAA Password Sharing Case
The United State Supreme Court recently denied certiorari in Nosal v. United States, 16-1344, declining to weigh in on the scope of unauthorized access under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”). The Ninth Circuit held in Nosal that David Nosal violated the CFAA by using his past assistant’s password to access his former
USCIS: Watch Out For I-9 Email Scams
As reported on our Global Immigration Blog, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued a notice regarding scam email requests for I-9 information. 
According to USCIS, employers have received scam emails that appear to come from USCIS. These scam emails come from a fraudulent email address (news@uscis.gov) and the body of
New York AG Announces SHIELD Act
On November 2nd, New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced his proposal of the SHIELD Act – Stop Hacks and Improve Electronic Data Security Act – a bill that would heighten data security requirements for companies and better protect New York residents from data breaches of
Illinois Nursing Home Faces Employee Class Action Based on State Biometric Privacy Act
An Illinois nursing home is facing a putative class action lawsuit filed by a worker who argues that the facility’s required fingerprint scan for timekeeping poses a threat to their privacy, and violates Illinois’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”). From July 2017 to October 2017, at least 26 employment class actions based on the BIPA
VOTE 2017 – We’re back thanks to you!
We are proud to once again announce that the Workplace Privacy Report has been nominated for The Expert Institute’s Best Legal Blog Competition.
From a field of thousands of nominees, the Workplace Privacy Report has received enough nominations to join one of the largest competitions for legal blog writing online today. If you enjoy the
Data Breach Preparedness: A critical risk management priority for small and mid-sized businesses
After hearing a lot lately about big companies suffering data breaches, it is important to remember that, according to inc.com, half of all cyberattacks target small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs). Based on a 2016 State of SMB Cybersecurity Report, CNBC reported that in the prior 12 months half of all SMBs in the U.S.