Site Map - Privacy

05/13/2008 - The Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University turned to online training to get staff and students up to speed on HIPAA's Security Rule.

04/29/2008 -

04/28/2008 - Of all North American and European companies, Canadian firms have the strongest and most consistent privacy policies.

04/15/2008 - Australia's Attorney General wants to give companies involved in the country's critical infrastructure the right to monitor their employee's Internet communications without consent to prevent a cyberattack.

02/28/2008 - A law intended to give security companies access to FBI databases has not been implemented in most states.

02/27/2008 - The IT security team for a large healthcare system needed a solution that would streamline access rights and meet privacy regulations.

12/17/2007 - A recent ruling by the Vermont Superior Court determined that the state's opt-in privacy regulations for financial institutions--under which companies can't use a customer's personal information for marketing or sell it unless the customer opts in to that program--are constitutional. Insurance groups filed the lawsuit claiming that the opt-in regulations violated the plaintiffs' First Amendment rights. The court ruled that the state had the authority to regulate privacy practices to protect the personal information of consumers. (American Council of Life Insurers v. Vermont Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities, and Healthcare Administration, Washington Superior Court, No. 56-1-02, 2004)

12/17/2007 - The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that an individual whose Social Security number was released to the public by the government cannot collect damages because he cannot prove that the disclosure caused him actual harm. In the case, a miner making a claim of black lung disease to the Department of Labor found that some of the information on official agency documents, which included the claimant's Social Security number, was revealed to the public. The miner sued the department, claiming that he was entitled to $1,000 damages from the government under the Privacy Act of 1974. The Supreme Court has ruled that because the disclosure did not cause the miner actual harm, he may not recover damages. (Doe v. Chao, United States Supreme Court, No. 02-1377, 2004)

12/11/2007 - A new bill introduced by California State Senator Debra Bowen (D-Redondo Beach) would restrict the use of information collected by radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. The measure, SB 1834, which passed the Senate at the end of April and was scheduled to be considered by the full Assembly by July, sets out four conditions that would have to be met before RFID tags and readers could be used to collect personal information. The full text of SB 1834 and the letter opposing it are at SM Online.

12/10/2007 - A federal appeals court has ordered that the sentencing of Brandon Lifshitz, who was convicted of transmitting child pornography, be evaluated for potential abuses of privacy. Under the sentencing, Lifshitz's computer must be equipped with computer monitoring and filtering software to ensure that Lifshitz does not access child pornography on his home computer during his probation. The court ordered the review to evaluate the sentence's possible violation of the Fourth Amendment. (U.S. v. Lifshitz, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, No. 03-1221, 2004)

12/05/2007 - Privacy advocates are fighting a losing battle when it comes to the practice of private companies collecting personal information about customers. That's because technology makes it cheap and easy and marketing makes it profitable. And the terrorist threat makes that information valuable to the government as well. A report by the Department of Defense's Technology and Privacy Advisory Committee, which addresses privacy in the age of terrorism, can be reached via SM Online.

12/04/2007 - A bill (S.B. 1841) recently approved by the California Senate would require that employers inform workers before they monitor employee e-mail accounts. The measure would provide electronic communication with the same protections as voice communications.

12/04/2007 - A bill (H.R. 2971) that would restrict the sale and public display of Social Security numbers by both private sector and government entities has been approved by the House Ways and Means Committee.