Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

The Information Commissioner’s Office (the “ICO”) has conducted a dawn raid on a business which operated a covert database containing details of 3,213 workers in the construction industry (the “Database”). Subscribers included over 40 construction companies, publicly named by the ICO, who used the database to vet prospective employees, without their knowledge or consent.

A former computer security consultant was sentenced Wednesday to four years in federal prison for fraud stemming from his involvement with a cyber-crime ring that used botnets to infect an estimated 250,000 computers.  He has also been ordered to pay $20,000 in restitution to companies defrauded by the scheme.  The 27 year-old California man made history last year when he became the first "bot herder" in the United States to plead guilty to wiretapping charges in connection with the use of botnets.  His guilty plea included admissions of accessing protected computers to conduct fraud and disclosing illegally intercepted electronic communications, as well as wire and bank fraud.  He faced up to 60 years in prison and $1.75 million in fines.

Emerging economies developing privacy laws are confronted with two challenges: how best to protect the privacy interests of local citizens and how to put in place privacy governance that assures companies and individuals outside the economy that information that flows into the region is properly protected and secured.  The APEC Privacy Framework provides sound guidance for drafters engaged in this effort.  By recognizing that privacy reflects the mores and values of local culture, it provides an approach to privacy protection that can be adapted to reflect the needs of local citizens within a widely recognized and adopted architecture.  At the same time, it sets out requirements for strong security, compliance with rules governing the use and management of data and cross-border cooperation for dispute resolution and enforcement. 

The UK Advertising Standards Authority (“ASA”) recently upheld a complaint under the UK Committee of Advertising Practice Code (“CAP Code”) which requires UK marketers to obtain the explicit consent of consumers before disclosing their personal information to third parties for direct marketing purposes.

The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress recently passed an amendment to the P.R.C. Criminal Law.  The amendment includes a provision imposing criminal liability on persons who misappropriate personal information during the course of performing their professional duties.  A previous Hunton & Williams Client Alert reported on the amendment that has now become effective as law.

This week, the Federal Communications Commission announced a broad consumer privacy enforcement action against over 600 telecommunications carriers.  The Commission issued notices of liability against carriers that failed to certify compliance with regulations governing the protection of Consumer Proprietary Network Information (“CPNI”) and carriers that filed inadequate certifications.  The Commission proposed fines of $20,000 against carriers that failed to file the required certification and up to $10,000 against carriers whose certifications were non-compliant.

CVS Pharmacy (“CVS”), reportedly the largest retail pharmacy chain, has agreed to pay the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) $2.25 million and submit a Corrective Action Plan (“CAP”) to HHS after an extensive nationwide investigation by the HHS Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) and the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) which revealed that CVS employees disposed of protected health information (“PHI”) in violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act’s (“HIPAA”) Privacy Rule.  In addition, CVS Caremark, the parent company of CVS, simultaneously entered into a Consent Order with the FTC to resolve claims that CVS had engaged in unfair or deceptive trade practices in violation of the FTC Act by failing to use reasonable and appropriate measures to prevent unauthorized access to PHI and by disseminating a false or misleading privacy notice about CVS’s protection of PHI.  In the Consent Order, the FTC specifically highlighted CVS’s failure to render PHI unreadable before disposal as well as its claim in its privacy notice that maintaining the privacy of its customers’ PHI was central to its operations as examples of unfair or deceptive trade practices.  The CVS settlement is noteworthy for two reasons: (1) it is the first joint enforcement action between OCR and the FTC and (2) although it is the second substantial monetary settlement for alleged HIPAA violations, the $2.25 million resolution amount dwarfs the first settlement for $100,000 between HHS and Providence Health in July 2008.

On February 11, 2009, the EU Article 29 Data Protection Working Party released its long-awaited Working Document (the “Working Document”) on reconciling U.S. civil discovery requirements with European data protection law. The guidelines the Working Document offers for data controllers highlight the challenges that multinational businesses face to comply with competing legal obligations in civil litigation.

The Criminal Court of Milan has suspended proceedings against four Google executives to allow time to address relevant procedural considerations.  The proceedings mark the culmination of a two-year investigation conducted by Italian authorities.  The investigation focused on video footage made available on Google Video that depicted a disabled boy being taunted by his fellow classmates.  As result of the video footage, Google executives face charges of defamation and privacy infringement.

For purposes of the criminal proceedings, Google is considered an internet content ...

On February 12, 2009, the Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation issued a revised version of its information security regulations and extended the compliance deadline from May 1, 2009 to January 1, 2010. This is the second time Massachusetts has extended the deadline; previously, the deadline was changed to May 1, 2009 in consideration of the economic climate.