Vidhi Doshi reports: An Indian government agency has filed a police complaint against a journalist who exposed a possible security breach in the country’s vast biometric database that contains the personal details of more than 1 billion citizens, raising fresh concerns about shrinking press freedom in India. The complaint against journalist Rachna Khaira came after she wrote…
Category: Of Note
Florida colleges receive extortion demands to avert attacks on campuses (UPDATED)
Stephanie Brown reports: An extortion email apparently sent to several colleges and universities demands payment in Bitcoin, threatening to commit an attack against campus students and faculty. We first told you Wednesday that the University of North Florida confirmed they had received an emailed extortion threat. The UNF Crime Alert said law enforcement believed the…
Shafer’s attorney files motion to dismiss federal charges of cyberstalking an FBI agent’s family and court personnel
I haven’t had time to really read this carefully yet, but Tor Ekeland has filed a motion to dismiss U.S. v. Shafer, a case that may leave you scratching your head and wondering why the government is devoting so many precious resources to persecuting and harassing one of the good guys. And for all this…
FTC Gives Final Approval to Lenovo Settlement
The Federal Trade Commission has given final approval to a settlement with Lenovo Inc., related to charges that the company harmed consumers by pre-loading software on some laptops that compromised security protections in order to deliver ads to consumers. In its complaint, the FTC charged that beginning in August 2014 Lenovo began selling consumer laptops in…
HHS announces $2.3 million settlement with 21st Century Oncology for violations of HIPAA
I’m not sure why HHS delayed a few weeks in announcing their settlement with 21st Century Oncology, as some of us reported the $2.3 million settlement earlier this month, but HHS has now issued a press release: Failure to protect the health records of millions of persons costs entity millions of dollars 21st Century Oncology,…
Businesses Take Note: Updates to Maryland’s Data Breach Notification Law Take Effect January 1, 2018
James Benjamin, Jr. of Pessin Katz Law, P.A. writes: On January 1, 2018, several amendments to the Maryland Personal Information Protection Act, (“MPIPA”) MD Code Ann., Com. Law §14-3501 et seq. will go into effect. Businesses collecting personal information should take note and be prepared. Under the law as amended, the definition of “personal information”…