Email has become an important mode of communication for business operations, with approximately 100 billion business emails sent in 2013 alone. Included in these messages are patients’ personal and health information, such as test results, diagnoses, and social security numbers. The Privacy and Security Rules of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 […]
Privacy
Privacy, Innovation and Big Data Forum Hosted by Alston & Bird
On March 25, Alston & Bird hosted a forum titled, “Privacy, Innovation and Big Data: What Does the Future Hold.” David Keating, Partner and Co-Chair of the Firm’s Privacy and Security Practice, hosted a panel discussion that included Peter Swire, Nancy J. and Lawrence P. Huang Professor, Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology, […]
DOJ Issues White Paper on Cybersecurity Information Sharing Under the SCA
On Friday, May 9 the Department of Justice (DOJ) released a white paper stating that under its interpretation of the Stored Communications Act (SCA), 18 U.S.C. § 2701 et seq., communications companies are permitted to disclose “non-content information to the government” as long as that information is in its “aggregate form.” The lynchpin of the DOJ’s […]
Google Must Scrub its Search Engine of Individual’s Personal Data, Court Rules
The European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) ruled today that Google may be compelled to remove search listings of web pages containing information about individuals. Mario Costeja Gonzalez, a Spanish national, complained in 2010 to Spain’s data protection authority (“Spanish DPA”) about the inclusion of a newspaper article in Google search results that appeared when searching his […]
American Apparel Settles FTC Charge on Falsely Claiming Compliance with Safe Harbor Privacy Framework
On May 9, 2014, the Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”) announced that American Apparel, Inc. (“American Apparel”) agreed to settle FTC charges that American Apparel falsely claimed it was compliant with the U.S.-European Union Safe Harbor (the “US-EU Safe Harbor Framework”). The FTC’s complaint alleged that American Apparel, a clothing manufacturer and retailer with more than 200 […]