Last Thursday the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued an order confirming that companies must include opt-out instructions on all fax ads, even for recipients who previously agreed to receive a fax from the company. The order clarifies that solicited fax ads, like unsolicited ads, must also comply with the rules set forth in the FCC’s 2006 Junk Fax Prevention Order. All fax ads must contain an opt-out notice that (1) is clear and conspicuous and on the first page of the ad, (2) states that the recipient may make a request to the sender not to send any future ads, and (3) contains a domestic phone and fax number so that the recipient has a contact for opt-out purposes.
FCC: The New Data Security Sheriff In Town
By David Munkittrick on
Data security seems to make headlines nearly every week, but last Friday, a new player entered the ring. The Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) took its first foray into the regulation of data security, an area that has been dominated by the Federal Trade Commission. In its 3-2 vote, the FCC did not tread lightly – it assessed a $10 million fine on two telecommunications companies for failing to adequately safeguard customers’ personal information.
New Jersey bill to prohibit unsolicited text message advertisements pending Governor signature
By Charley Lozada on
A New Jersey bill which prohibits unwanted text message advertisements has been sent to the Governor for final consideration. A. 617, which passed unanimously in the Assembly June 26 and in the Senate Sept. 22, if signed into law, would make it illegal to send a text message advertisement…
California Updates State Breach Notification Law, Expands Security Procedures to Entities that “Maintain” Personal Information
By Stacy Barrow on
On September 30, 2014, California took further steps to protect the personal information of its residents by amending several sections of its breach notification and information security laws (Cal. Civ. Code §§ 1798.81.5, 1798.82 and 1798.85). The amended law, which is effective January 1, 2015, updates existing law in three…
Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets and Accounts
By Carly Ziegler on
Traditionally, a person’s most valuable assets to be distributed upon death consisted of tangible items such as real property, cash, jewelry and personal effects of sentimental value like photographs and letters. However, the advent of the digital age has brought a shift from file cabinets, mailmen and photo albums to cloud storage, e-mail accounts and online photo streams. Today, virtually everyone has at least some assets that are not physical, but are stored as data and accessed via the Internet. “Digital assets” may include, for example, text messages, instant messaging accounts, e-mails, documents, audio or video images and sounds, social media content, health insurance records, source code, software, databases, online bank accounts, blogs, and the user names and passwords necessary to access online accounts, among other things. More specifically, consider a person’s PayPal or Venmo accounts, which might contain large sums of money, or Google, Yahoo, Facebook or Instagram accounts, which might contain letters, pictures, videos and other items of intrinsic value. The steady growth of most individuals’ online presence has given rise to a novel legal issue – authority over administering the digital assets and accounts of an account holder upon death or disability.
Toward the enforceability of the “right to be forgotten” in Europe
By Cecile Martin on
The European Court of Justice, in a decision rendered on May 13, 2014, held that search engines are considered data controllers under the Directive of October 24, 1995 on data protection, and as such they must provide data subjects with a “right to be forgotten.”
California Breaks New Ground in Education Privacy Law with K-12 Student Data Privacy Bill
By Maritza Jean-Louis on
A substantial rise in schools’ use of online educational technology products has caused educators to become increasingly reliant on these products to develop their curricula, deliver materials to students in real time, and monitor students’ progress and learning habits through the collection of data by third-party cloud computing service providers. Unfortunately, with these advances come the data security concerns that go hand-in-hand with cloud computing—such as data breaches, hacking, spyware, and the potential misappropriation or misuse of sensitive personal information. With the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)—federal legislation enacted to safeguard the privacy of student data—in place for four decades, the education sector is ripe for new standards and guidance on how to protect students’ personal information in the era of cloud computing. California has tackled this issue head on, with the passage of two education data privacy bills by its legislature on August 30, 2014. Senate Bill 1177 and Assembly Bill 1442 (together, the Student Online Personal Information Protection Act (SOPIPA)) create privacy standards for K-12 school districts that rely on third-parties to collect and analyze students’ data, and require that student data managed by outside companies remain the property of those school districts and remain within school district control.