Last week, California Attorney General, Kamala D. Harris – who has been mentioned as a potential nominee to fill Justice Antonin Scalia’s recently vacated seat on the U.S. Supreme Court – issued the California Data Breach Report (Report). The Report provides an analysis of the data breaches reported to the California AG from 2012-2015.
No Statutory Damages Under SCA Without Actual Damages
The U.S. Court Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has ruled that statutory damages under the Stored Communications Act (SCA) are not available in a case where the plaintiff did not incur any actual damages.
The case, Vista Marketing LLC v. Burkett, originated from an extremely contentious divorce proceeding. While the majority of the allegations
FDA Issues Draft Guidance for Connected Medical Devices
Demonstrating a continued focus on information security, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published draft guidance on Design Considerations and Pre-market Submission Recommendations for Interoperable Medical Devices. As the title indicates, the draft guidance focuses on issues manufacturers should address in the development and design of medical devices prior to sale to consumers. This
The Status of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield
As we previously reported, the EU and U.S. reached agreement last week on the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield to replace the invalidated EU-U.S. Safe Harbor Program for transatlantic data transfers. While the announcement of the Privacy Shield is a relief to the thousands of companies who relied on the Safe Harbor Program, details remain unclear.
Safe Harbor Resolution…Not So Fast
UPDATE: Although we previously reported that a possible Safe Harbor resolution may be imminent, Bloomberg BNA is now reporting that a European Commission official has told them there may be no deal today to replace the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Program.
According to BNA, when European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality Justice Vera
New U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Imminent?
Bloomberg BNA is reporting that the EU hopes to reach a Safe Harbor deal with the U.S. on Monday, February 1, 2016. Speaking at the Computers, Privacy and Data Protection Conference in Brussels, Paul F. Nemitz, Director for Fundamental Rights and Union Citizenship at the Directorate-General Justice of the European Commission said, “[w]e hope to
Top 10 for 2016 – Happy Data Privacy Day
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
FDA Issues Draft Cybersecurity Guidance for Device Manufacturers
Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued draft guidance outlining important steps medical device manufacturers should take to address cybersecurity risks to keep patients safe and better protect the public health. The draft guidance, which details the agency’s recommendations for monitoring, identifying, and addressing cybersecurity vulnerabilities in medical devices after they have
SCOTUS: Offer of Judgment Does Not Moot TCPA Case
Today, in a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court of the United States held in Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez that an unaccepted settlement offer or offer of judgment does not moot a plaintiff’s case. As previously discussed, the Supreme Court granted a petition for a writ of certiorari on May 18, 2015 and heard arguments in
CFTC Approves Proposed Cybersecurity Regulations
Recognizing cyber security as one of the most important issues facing financial markets today, and identifying cyber-attacks as a top threat, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) unanimously approved proposed enhanced rules on cybersecurity for derivatives clearing house organizations, trading platforms, and swap data repositories.
The proposals, published in separate Federal Register Notices as