South by Southwest (“SXSW”) Interactive kicked off last week, and Covington was there once again to cover privacy. One panel of interest that we attended, entitled “Data (in)Security: MIT Scientists Tackle Privacy,” featured MIT professors Danny Weitzner, Ronald Rivest, and Sam Madden discussing their current research and related privacy issues. All three hail from MIT’s Computer … Continue Reading
This week, the Medical Identity Fraud Alliance (“MIFA”) released its 2014 Fifth Annual Study on Medical Identity Theft, finding that in the last year, medical identity theft incidents increased by 21.7% from 2013. The study is annually conducted to determine the pervasiveness of medical identity theft in the United States, how it affects the lives … Continue Reading
By Randall Friedland California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris yesterday released the second annual California Data Breach Report. The report provided statistics and analysis related to data breaches that were reported to the Attorney General’s office in 2013. The report also outlined suggested best practices and provided recommendations on ways to improve data security. Statistics … Continue Reading
As we have previously reported, in less than two weeks the FTC will host its anticipated workshop on big data and discrimination. Today the FTC announced a full agenda and panelists for the September 15th event, “Big Data: A Tool for Inclusion or Exclusion?” which will take place in Washington, D.C., at the Constitution Center. … Continue Reading
Last Friday, the FTC announced an agenda for its upcoming workshop, “Big Data: A Tool for Inclusion or Exclusion?” which will take place on Monday, Sept. 15, starting at 8:00 a.m. As we’ve previously reported, the workshop will build on recent efforts by the FTC and other government agencies to understand how new technologies affect … Continue Reading
In conjunction with the White House’s comprehensive review of big-data and privacy issues that resulted in a 79-page report, last week the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (“PCAST”) released a parallel big-data report. The White House report is more general and contains six major policy recommendations, whereas the PCAST report, authored by … Continue Reading
Today the White House released its big data and privacy report, entitled “Big Data: Seizing Opportunities, Preserving Values.” The report is the result of a three-month review, which was led by White House counselor John Podesta and was first announced as part of the President’s January speech on NSA reform. It primarily outlines the Administration’s … Continue Reading
Yesterday, industry and government panelists participated in a conference sponsored by the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee that included a panel discussion on “Plumbing the Policy Implications of Data Analytics and Defining Big Data,” The Year’s Most Overused Term.” According to press reports, Federal Trade Commission Senior Policy Adviser and panelist Paul Ohm acknowledged that … Continue Reading
The Federal Trade Commission has announced that it will host a public workshop on December 6 to discuss the privacy issues raised by the collection of data about consumers’ online activities by so-called large platform providers. According to the scheduling notice, the FTC seeks to explore the potential privacy issues raised by the collection of … Continue Reading
