Do-Not-Track and Online Behavioral Advertising If you’ve been listening, you are aware of the Federal Trade Commission’s December 2010 Preliminary Staff Report: Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change. (Update: The final FTC Privacy Report has been released.) You also know the Commission has challenged providers to create “Do-Not-Track” technology allowing users to opt-out from on-line behavioral advertising. Reportedly, those things are already in the works. Th

New Laws Place Restrictions and Limits on After Sale Data Passes and Negative Option Marketing On December 29, 2010, President Obama signed the “Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act” into law. This new law places restrictions and limits on after sale “data passes” and “negative option” marketing through Internet sales. Senator John D. (Jay) Rockfeller, IV Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation originally introduced the Bill, ultima

Your Privacy Policy Could Have Serious Legal Implications How many times have you seen website terms of use or privacy policies saying something to the effect, “We use industry standard best-practice technology to guarantee your sensitive financial transactions are 100% safe and secure?” When you publish these types of statements, you potentially expose your business to deceptive and/or unfair practices claims by attorneys general, state and federal regulators, and private pl

A recent data breach demonstrates some relevant concerns. Last week a large marketing firm announced that numerous email addresses and possibly names and addresses of customers of some of its large clients (including banks) were compromised. Some might say email addresses: “No big deal.” Certainly, in and of themselves, email addresses probably don’t qualify as protected personal data under most, if not all, state data breach laws. However, the fallout from the breach has

Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced two proposed settlements of complaints filed against Ceridian Corporation and Lookout Services, Inc. Both proposed consent orders require the companies to implement security measures similar to other such settlements, including development and implementation of more robust information security programs, along with biennial security assessments and reporting by qualified personnel for 20 years collaboration tools for bu

“Putting Privacy First” was originally published in the August 2011 edition of TechNews. By: Michael J. Feldman Many businesses view legal compliance as a necessary evil and an obstacle to profits. Thus, compliance is often made a mere formality. Dealing with the complex privacy and data protection rules and regulations is often viewed no differently – be it industry-specific rules such as HIPAA (healthcare), age-specific rules such as COPPA (online marketing to minors), agen

Zip Codes Can Reveal Customer Information, Leading To Privacy Concerns By Michael Feldman A February 2011 ruling against Williams-Sonoma by the California Supreme Court held that a consumer’s ZIP code was “personal identification information” that merchants are not permitted to demand from customers under a California consumer privacy law. The result was a rash of lawsuits against businesses such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Bed Bath & Beyond Inc., Crate & Barrel and Victoria’s S

On Tuesday, October 18th, a 40-something year old actress filed a law suit against IMDb and Amazon for publishing her real name and age on IMDb’s website. Entertainment Weekly asked Michael J. Feldman, Esq., CIPP, to weigh in on the merits of the plaintiff’s privacy claim. Feldman, a partner at OlenderFeldman who is also not involved in the IMDb suit, believes “the most pivotal issue in the case” will be the clarity of IMDb’s Privacy Policy and Subscriber Agreement. According

Despite Facebook’s “Privacy Settings”, Your Information Might Not Be So Private By Michael Feldman With over 800 million users, there is a good chance that you, a family member or a business colleague uses Facebook. Many people assume that their posts and information viewed on Facebook is only available to their “friends.” Such an assumption would be wrong for several reasons. First, your information is only private to the extent you affirmatively check certain boxes for your