On June 22, 2018, in Carpenter v. United States, the United States Supreme Court decided that the federal government would need a warrant in order to obtain historical location data from cellular service providers, based on cell tower “pings.” (“Pings” are more formally referred to as cell-site location information or “CLSI.”) As explained in more … Continue Reading
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 in Europe. Don’t … Continue Reading
In Minnesota, 97% of the 25,226 allegations of elder abuse (neglect, physical abuse, unexplained serious injuries and thefts) in state-licensed senior facilities in 2016 were never investigated. This prompted Minnesota Governor, Mark Dayton, to announce plans last week to form a task force to find out why. As one might expect, Minnesota is not … Continue Reading
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 Workplace … Continue Reading
Co-author: Devin Rauchwerger A former Lyft driver filed a class action lawsuit in the Northern District of California against Uber, alleging Uber violated the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (“ECPA”), the California Invasion of Privacy Act (“CIPA”), and other common law invasions of privacy and unfair competition. The plaintiff seeks to represent two classes: 1) all … Continue Reading
A federal district court in Indiana recently denied an employer’s motion to compel discovery of employee GPS data in defense of an action brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Crabtree v. Angie’s List, Inc. Plaintiffs asserted claims for denial of overtime pay during a one-year period in which they worked as Senior Sales … Continue Reading
With the proliferation of satellite navigation systems and smart phones, many employers have contemplated using GPS tracking to increase efficiency, and frankly, to keep a better eye on their employees during the work day. The use of GPS tracking in a vehicle can be lawful, there are some limitations to keep in mind. First, you … Continue Reading
On January 9, 2017, lawmakers in the House re-introduced legislation, the Email Privacy Act, which, if enacted, would require the government to obtain a court-issued warrant to access electronic communications, including emails and social networking messages, from cloud providers (e.g., Google, Yahoo) when such communications are older than 180 days. Current law, the Electronic Communications … Continue Reading
In honor of Data Privacy Day, we provide the following “Top 10 for 2017.” While the list is by no means exhaustive, it does provide some hot topics for organizations to consider in 2017. 1. Phishing Attacks and Ransomware – Phishing, as the name implies, is the attempt, usually via email, to obtain sensitive or personal … Continue Reading
It is not uncommon for employers to assign badges to their employees to grant access to certain locations on the employer’s property and parking garages. Many employees have them, use them, lose them and think little of them. But, badges made by Humanyze are so much more, raising concerns from privacy advocates and others. According … Continue Reading
A motion to dismiss has been filed in a California case filed by a New York woman who claims that the National Basketball Association’s Golden State Warriors violated the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (the “Wiretap Act”), 18 U.S.C. § 2510, et seq., by distributing a mobile content app that invades users’ privacy by turning on … Continue Reading
Michael Schrage at Harvard Business Review warns his readers, “Stop swearing at Siri. Quit cursing Cortana,” arguing such behavior could soon be seen just as destructive to an organization as ridiculing a subordinate. In the 1993 film, Demolition Man, Sylvester Stallone’s character, John Spartan, received multiple tickets from a wall box that overheard him violate … Continue Reading
According to a recent New York Times article, “Facebook scrambled on Monday to respond to a new and startling line of attack: accusations of political bias.” Slate followed with a report that the online social networking giant became the subject of a United States Senate inquiry, with Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune wanting information about how … Continue Reading
Whether Google Docs, Dropbox, or some other file sharing system, employees, especially millennials and other digital natives, are increasingly likely to set up personal cloud-based document sharing and storage accounts for work purposes, usually with well-meaning intentions, such as convenience and flexibility. Sometimes this is done with explicit company approval, sometimes it is done with … Continue Reading
Earlier today, the European Commission (the Commission) issued a draft “adequacy decision” as well as the texts that will constitute the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield (the Privacy Shield). This includes the Privacy Shield Principles companies have to abide by, as well as written commitments by the U.S. Government on the enforcement of the arrangement, including assurance … Continue Reading
As NCAA basketball tournament season approaches, employers may be wondering if they can monitor employees at work to see how much time they are spending checking their brackets, or for other purposes. There are many reasons companies monitor employees, including boosting productivity, dissuading cyber-slacking or social “not-working,” protecting trade secrets and confidential business information, preventing … Continue Reading
In honor of Data Privacy Day, we provide the following “Top 10 for 2016.” While the list is by no means exhaustive, it does provide some hot topics for organizations to consider in 2016. EU/U.S. Data Transfer (status of Safe Harbor). On October 6, 2015, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled … Continue Reading
The European Court of Human Rights, a body of the Council of Europe, has issued a major court ruling on employee monitoring which deserves attention on this side of the pond and provides some guidance for companies with employees in Europe. Europe has generally taken a more protective stance than the U.S. when it comes to protection … Continue Reading
Earlier this month, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) issued a report discussing “big data.” The report compiles the agency’s learning from recent seminars and research, including a public workshop held on September 15, 2014. Known best for its role as the federal government’s consumer protection watchdog, the FTC highlights in the report a number of … Continue Reading
An increasing number of companies have been installing or otherwise using some of the latest monitoring technologies in vehicles driven by employees – whether those vehicles are owned by the company or the employee – usually for safety and/or logistics management. These technologies include “event data recorders” or EDRs that capture a range of information … Continue Reading
One of your employees discloses your organization’s patient information to a soon-to-be new employer for use in generating business at the new employer’s competing business, and your company has to settle with the New York State Attorney General for HIPAA violations. Make sense? This is what happened according to a published settlement agreement (pdf) that was … Continue Reading
The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act or CISA passed the Senate this week by vote of 74-21, but not without controversy. CISA would not establish a generally applicable federal standard for safeguarding personal information, nor would it enact a federal breach notification requirement. Rather, if signed into law, CISA would among other things create a framework … Continue Reading
Bloomberg BNA (subscription) recently reported that this fall the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) will be issuing a report on Fitbit Inc.’s privacy practices. Avid runners, walkers or those up on the latest gadgets likely know about Fitbit, and its line of wearable fitness devices. Others may know about Fitbit due to the need … Continue Reading
The saying – never let them see you sweat – soon may be more difficult to accomplish with Microsoft’s Hololens. Like Google Glass, the Hololens is worn as a headset. But this device has a “plurality” of sensors that gather a range of biometrics parameters (heart rate, perspiration, etc.) which determine along with other information … Continue Reading
