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Libbie Canter

Libbie Canter represents a wide variety of multinational companies on privacy, cyber security, and technology transaction issues, including helping clients with their most complex privacy challenges and the development of governance frameworks and processes to comply with global privacy laws. She routinely supports clients on their efforts to launch new products and services involving emerging technologies, and she has assisted dozens of clients with their efforts to prepare for and comply with federal and state privacy laws, including the California Consumer Privacy Act and California Privacy Rights Act.

Libbie represents clients across industries, but she also has deep expertise in advising clients in highly-regulated sectors, including financial services and digital health companies. She counsels these companies — and their technology and advertising partners — on how to address legacy regulatory issues and the cutting edge issues that have emerged with industry innovations and data collaborations.

As part of her practice, she also regularly represents clients in strategic transactions involving personal data and cybersecurity risk. She advises companies from all sectors on compliance with laws governing the handling of health-related data. Libbie is recognized as an Up and Coming lawyer in Chambers USA, Privacy & Data Security: Healthcare. Chambers USA notes, Libbie is "incredibly sharp and really thorough. She can do the nitty-gritty, in-the-weeds legal work incredibly well but she also can think of a bigger-picture business context and help to think through practical solutions."

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Last month, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced its enforcement action against telehealth firm, Cerebral, Inc. (“Cerebral”), for its alleged unauthorized disclosures of consumers’ sensitive personal health information and other sensitive data to third parties for advertising purposes in violation of the FTC Act.  The complaint also alleges that Cerebral violated the Opioid Addiction Recovery Fraud Prevention Act (“OARFPA”), and the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (“ROSCA”), which permits the court to order permanent injunctive relief, civil penalties, and other monetary relief for actions in violations of specific sections of the FTC Act, the OARFPA, and the ROSCA.  According to the proposed order, Cerebral must pay more than $7 million in civil penalties and consumer refunds.  In addition, Cerebral will be banned from using or disclosing consumers’ personal and health information (including online identifiers, such as IP addresses or other persistent identifiers) for advertising and must obtain consumers’ affirmative express consent before disclosing such information to outside parties.

Below is a discussion of the complaint and proposed order.Continue Reading FTC Announces Health Privacy Enforcement Action Against Telehealth Company, Cerebral

HHS Modifies Privacy Rule to Support Reproductive Health Care Privacy

On April 26, 2024, the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (“HHS”) published a final rule that modifies the Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information (“Privacy Rule”) under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) regarding protected health information (“PHI”) concerning reproductive health. We previously covered the proposed rule (hereinafter, “the NPRM”), which was published on April 17, 2023. The final rule aligns closely with the NPRM.Continue Reading HHS Modifies Privacy Rule to Support Reproductive Health Care Privacy

On April 26, 2024, the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (“HHS”) published a final rule that modifies the Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information (“Privacy Rule”) under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) regarding protected health information (“PHI”) concerning reproductive health. We previously covered the proposed rule (hereinafter, “the NPRM”), which was published on April 17, 2023. The final rule aligns closely with the NPRM.Continue Reading HHS Modifies Privacy Rule to Support Reproductive Health Care Privacy

In 2020, Illinois residents whose photos were included in the Diversity in Faces dataset brought a series of lawsuits against multiple technology companies, including IBM, Facefirst, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google alleging violations of Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act.[1] In the years since, the cases against IBM and FaceFirst were dismissed at the agreement of both parties, while the cases against Microsoft, Amazon, and most recently, Google were dismissed at summary judgment.Continue Reading What the Diversity in Faces Litigation Means for Biometric Technologies

On April 24, 2024, President Biden signed into law H.R. 815, which includes the Protecting Americans’ Data from Foreign Adversaries Act of 2024 (“the Act”), a bill that passed the House 414-0 as H.R. 7520 on March 20.  The Act is one of several recent actions by the U.S. government to regulate transfers of U.S. personal data for national security reasons, with a particular focus on China.  While the ultimate policy objectives are similar, the Act takes a different approach by comparison to the Biden Administration’s Executive Order on Preventing Access to Americans’ Bulk Sensitive Personal Data and United States Government-Related Data by Countries of Concern (“the EO”), which the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) is in the process of implementing.  We summarize below some key features of the Act, which will go into effect on June 23, 2024.Continue Reading Congress Passes Bill Prohibiting Sharing or Selling Americans’ Sensitive Data to Entities Controlled by Foreign Adversaries

On Friday, April 26, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) voted 3-2 to issue a final rule (the “final rule”) that expands the scope of the Health Breach Notification Rule (“HBNR”) to apply to health apps and similar technologies and broadens what constitutes a breach of security, among other updates.  We previously covered the proposed rule, which was issued on May 18, 2023.

In the FTC’s announcement of the final rule, the FTC emphasized that “protecting consumers’ sensitive health data is a high priority for the FTC” and that the “updated HBNR will ensure [the HBNR] keeps pace with changes in the health marketplace.”  Key provisions of the final rule include:Continue Reading FTC Issues Final Rule to Expand Scope of the Health Breach Notification Rule

Last month, the Maryland legislature passed the Maryland Online Data Privacy Act (“MODPA”). Pending Governor’s signature, Maryland will become the latest state to enact comprehensive privacy legislation, joining California, Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, Iowa, Indiana, Tennessee, Montana, Oregon, Texas, Florida, Delaware, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Kentucky, and Nebraska.

MODPA contains unique provisions that will require careful analysis to ensure compliance, including: data minimization requirements; restrictions on the collection, sale, or transfer of sensitive data; and consumer health data-related obligations.  These unique provisions have the potential to create additional work streams even for companies who have come into compliance for existing state laws.  This blog post summarizes the statute’s key takeaways.Continue Reading The Maryland Online Data Privacy Act Set to Reshape the State Privacy Legislation Landscape with Stringent Requirements

On April 17, the Nebraska governor signed the Nebraska Data Privacy Act (the “NDPA”) into law.  Nebraska is the latest state to enact comprehensive privacy legislation, joining California, Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, Iowa, Indiana, Tennessee, Montana, Oregon, Texas, Florida, Delaware, New Jersey,  New Hampshire, Kentucky, and Maryland. The NDPA will take effect on January 1, 2025.  This blog post summarizes the statute’s key takeaways.Continue Reading Nebraska Enacts Nebraska Data Privacy Act

On April 2, the Enforcement Division of the California Privacy Protection Agency issued its first Enforcement Advisory, titled “Applying Data Minimization to Consumer Requests.”  The Advisory highlights certain provisions of and regulations promulgated under the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) that “reflect the concept of data minimization” and provides two examples that illustrate how businesses may apply data minimization principles in certain scenarios.Continue Reading California Privacy Protection Agency Issues Enforcement Advisory on Data Minimization

On April 3, at the International Association of Privacy Professionals’ global privacy conference, California Privacy Protection Agency (“CPPA”) Executive Director Ashkan Soltani gave remarks on his agency’s priorities with respect to rulemaking and administrative enforcement of the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”).  Below we provide a few key takeaways:Continue Reading CPPA Executive Director Remarks on Policy and Enforcement Priorities