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Flash Cookies — Back on the Radar

By S. Montaye Sigmon on September 2, 2009 Posted in Behavioral Marketing, Online Privacy

When Flash cookies (also known as a “Local Shared Objects”) were first flagged as a privacy issue back in 2005, a few savvy companies added a disclosure about Flash cookies into their web site privacy policies. Since then, we have not heard the issue raised again. Now this sleeper issue seems to have been awakened by … Continue Reading

The New Frontier: “Genetic Exceptionalism” and The Battle Over Newborns’ DNA

By S. Montaye Sigmon on July 27, 2009 Posted in Medical Privacy

The popularity of crime dramas on primetime television schedules has made certain aspects of genetic testing commonplace and uncontroversial. However, as science continues to advance at an exponential rate, and as technology and innovation have invaded the realm of individual privacy rights, individuals’ genetic make-up are likely the next frontier. At least 32 states have … Continue Reading

FINRA Fines Member Firm $175,000 for Failure to Protect Confidential Customer Information

By S. Montaye Sigmon on May 18, 2009 Posted in Financial Privacy

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced on April 28, 2009 that it had fined Centaurus Financial, Inc., of Anaheim, California, $175,000 for Centaurus’s failure to protect confidential customer information. FINRA also required Centaurus to send notifications to affected customers and their brokers, provide one year of credit monitoring at no cost to the affected customers, … Continue Reading

2008 Study: Cost of Data Breaches Continues to Rise

By S. Montaye Sigmon on February 25, 2009 Posted in Data Breaches

A new benchmark study released by the Ponemon Institute indicates that the costs associated with data breaches in the U.S. continue to rise. The Fourth Annual U.S. Cost of Data Breach Study ("Study") found that the average cost of a data breach has risen to $202 per customer record lost or stolen, up from $138 per customer record lost of stolen in 2005, the first year that the study was conducted. According to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, since 2005, more than 250 million customer records containing confidential personal information have been lost or stolen. … Continue Reading

Leaving Las Vegas . . . IF Encrypted

By S. Montaye Sigmon on September 24, 2008 Posted in Data Privacy Laws

A Nevada law requiring encryption of customer personal information goes into effect on October 1, 2008. See Nev. Rev. Stat. § 597.970 (2007). While the legislation is short in length, it is potentially wide-ranging in scope. In particular, the legislation requires any "business in this State" to encrypt an electronic transmission (other than via facsimile) of "any personal information of a customer" to "a person outside of the secure system of the business unless the business uses encryption to ensure the security of the electronic transmission." Id. … Continue Reading

European Commission Data Protection Working Party Issues Opinion on Search Engine Data Protection

By S. Montaye Sigmon on April 22, 2008 Posted in European Union

The European Commission Article 29 Data Protection Working Party ("Working Party") recently released its opinion on data protection issues related to search engines. The opinion specifically addresses the applicability of the Data Protection Directive (95/46/EC) and the Data Retention Directive (2006/24/EC) to the processing of personal data by search engines. … Continue Reading