On August 2, 2024, Governor Pritzker signed Senate Bill (SB) 2979, which amends the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, 740 ILCS 14/1, et seq. (BIPA). The bill, which passed both the Illinois House and Senate by an overwhelming majority, confirms that a private entity that more than once collects or discloses the same biometric
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
Addressing Social Media Use–Recent Ruling on Students’ Social Networking Reaffirms Need for Policies and Training
The pervasiveness of social media in professional and everyday communication is a hot button issue (discussed at length here), particularly for private and public employers and organizations. In fact, many organizations have adopted, or are considering adopting, social media policies for employees and providing training for how employees should interact in cyberspace. But what
HHS Settlement Follows Enforcement Fine
In a uniquely timed second showing of enforcement authority, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced on February 24, 2011 a one million dollar settlement with a Massachusetts hospital that allegedly breached patient data. This settlement announcement comes only days after HHS announced a 4.3 million dollar HIPAA Privacy Rule fine. The
Deleting E-mails Can Constitute a “Damage” Under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
What is a company’s recourse when a former employee deletes e-mails and other company electronic information before he leaves? A case from Indiana provides a lesson.
When Meridian Financial Advisors began serving as Receiver for bankrupted OCMC, Inc., it took possession of a number of OCMC computers, including one belonging to Joseph A. Pence, OCMC’s President