Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

On May 29, 2013, a bill, accompanied by an explanatory memorandum, was proposed in the Australian Parliament that requires businesses and government agencies that experience a serious data breach to notify affected individuals and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (“OAIC”). The proposed legislation requires organizations to notify individuals only when they are “significantly affected” by a “serious” data breach. Breaches that merely pose a “remote risk” of harm would not require notification. The factors organizations should assess when determining whether a breach is “serious” include: (1) harm to a person’s reputation, (2) economic harm, (3) financial harm, and (4) physical and psychological harm. Additionally, the bill specifies that implementing regulations may identify other situations that would require notification even if the breach does not give rise to a risk of serious harm. Organizations should notify affected individuals through the normal method of communication they have previously used to communicate with those individuals. Absent a normal method of prior communication, organizations must take reasonable steps to notify the affected individuals via email, telephone or postal mail. If passed, the legislation would become effective in March 2014.

On May 13, 2013, the Article 29 Working Party (the “Working Party”) adopted an Advice Paper on profiling (the “Advice Paper”). The Advice Paper serves as the national data protection authorities’ contribution to the ongoing legislative debate before the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union on the proposed EU General Data Protection Regulation (the “Proposed Regulation”).

On June 3, 2013, Privacy Piracy host Mari Frank will interview Lisa J. Sotto, partner and head of the Global Privacy and Data Security practice at Hunton & Williams LLP, on KUCI 88.9 FM radio in Irvine, California. Listen to the latest developments in cybersecurity, including legal issues businesses should consider when dealing with cybersecurity threats and the types of information being targeted. The radio interview will be featured at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time on KUCI 88.9 FM and is available via audio streaming at www.kuci.org

On May 20, 2013, the Estonian Data Protection Inspectorate issued its Annual Report 2012 (the “Report,” summary available in English). The number of inquiries, complaints and supervision proceedings have remained the same over the last few years. The main topics of complaints include employment relations, CCTV, electronic direct marketing and social media. The Inspectorate stated that its primary goal is to stop violations of the law, not to impose sanctions. According to the Report, the Inspectorate issued orders regarding compliance in 48 cases and imposed fines in 39 cases.

On May 23, 2013, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (“OPC”) issued a position paper (the “Paper”) proposing revisions to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”) to better align PIPEDA with the risks facing a modern information economy. Privacy Commissioner of Canada Jennifer Stoddart addressed the release of the Paper in her remarks at the IAPP Canada Privacy Symposium, stating that “[i]t is increasingly clear that the law is not up to the task of meeting the challenges of today – and certainly not those of tomorrow.” According to the Paper, the surge in the collection, availability and use of personal data has upset the balance between the privacy rights of individuals and the legitimate needs of businesses originally struck by PIPEDA. In response, the Paper proposes four general revisions to PIPEDA:

On May 21, 2013, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) announced a resolution agreement and $400,000 settlement with Idaho State University (“ISU”) for a breach that affected 17,500 individuals.

The ISU settlement relates to servers that had their firewall protections disabled, which left the electronic protected health information (“ePHI”) of patients at ISU’s Pocatello Family Medicine Clinic unsecured for at least ten months. Following the submission of a breach report to the HHS Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”), an investigation determined that ISU allegedly had not complied with HIPAA Security Rule requirements, including by conducting an incomplete and inadequate risk analysis and by failing to “adequately implement procedures to regularly review records of information system activity to determine if any ePHI was used or disclosed in an inappropriate manner.”

On May 9, 2013, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) released a declaratory ruling clarifying the liability of a seller for violations of the Telemarketing Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) made by third-party telemarketers and others who place calls to market the seller’s products or services.

On May 20, 2013, the Irish Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (“ODPC”) published its annual report for 2012 (the “Report”). The Report summarizes the activities of the ODPC during 2012, including its investigations and audits, policy matters, and European and international activities.

Lisa J. Sotto, head of Hunton & Williams LLP’s Privacy and Data Security practice and managing partner of the New York office, was recently re-appointed as Chair of the Department of Homeland Security’s Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee (“DPIAC”). Sotto was first appointed Chair of DPIAC in 2012 for a one-year term. This most recent tenure will expire in April 2014.

On May 16, 2013, UK Trade & Investment (“UKTI”), a UK government department working with businesses based in the UK to ensure their success in international markets, published the first export strategy paper (the “Paper”) on the UK’s approach to the $100 billion annual cybersecurity export market.

In November 2011, the UK’s Cyber Security Strategy was published. ‘Objective 1’ of the strategy’s implementation plan recognized that cyberspace is an important and expanding part of the UK economy. One of the supporting actions for Objective 1 was to develop a ...