How quickly times change. It seems like only a few years ago that we thought it newsworthy that a breached entity would offer a year of free credit monitoring. Then it became newsworthy when they offered two years. Then it became newsworthy when they didn’t offer any free services. Now some retirees in Delaware are…
Category: Of Note
Maine: Student SSN Collection for Tracking On Hold After Data Breach
I’ve previously covered the new law in Maine that asks parents to provide their children’s Social Security Numbers so that the state can track the students. A number of school boards had the wisdom to write to the parents and basically say, “Look, we have to ask you for it, but we encourage you to…
Maryland Court: Employees Who Steal Data from the Company Computer Do Not Violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
Nick Ackerman of Dorsey & Whitney LLP has a nice write-up on a Maryland court decision that although it doesn’t deal with PII, does deal with whether an employee can be found guilty of “unauthorized access:” A federal district court in Maryland held that an employee who stole proprietary data from his prior employer did not…
Two Sentenced for Accessing President’s Student Loan Records
On August 25, 2010, Mercedes Costoyas, a.k.a., Mercedes Costoyas-Perret, 53, of Iowa City, IA, and John P. Phommivong, 30, of North Liberty, IA, were each sentenced to one year probation for exceeding authorized computer access. The sentencing was announced on September 25 by United States Attorney Nicholas A. Klinefeldt. United States District Judge James E….
Will ACS:Law become the first to feel the hammer of the ICO?
Peter Griffiths of Reuters reports: Britain’s privacy watchdog said on Tuesday it will investigate reports that hackers broke into a law firm’s computers and leaked the details of thousands of Sky broadband customers alleged to have shared pornographic films. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said it would check whether London-based ACS:Law breached the Data Protection…
Designing an Insecure Internet
Julian Sanchez also responds to the morning’s biggest story: If there were any doubt that the 90s are back in style, witness the Obama administration’s attempt to reignite the Crypto Wars by seeking legislation that would force Internet services to redesign their networks and products to provide a centralized mechanism for decrypting user communications. It cannot be stressed…