The Pennsylvania Senate has unanimously passed legislation that would require state and local government agencies to notify the public of data breaches involving personal information within one week. Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi said he drafted the measure, Senate Bill 162, after three separate thefts of state-owned computers with personal information. Pileggi said that even though…
Category: State/Local
Is Texas the New Federal Government? Nationwide Breach Notification Law Signed by Governor Perry Suggests So
Jake Sommer writes: Texas has never been known as a state that loves to regulate and its current governor has made a name for himself by being staunchly anti-regulation, but its recent Texas Security Breach Bill (HB 300), contains a sneaky provision that turns the Texas Attorney General into one of the nation’s most powerful…
Illinois Amends Breach Notice Law to Specify Notice Content, Cooperation
Brendon Tavelli writes: On August 22, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed House Bill 3025 into law. In doing so, he aligned Illinois with a small group of states responding to increased concern about privacy and information security by retooling their existing information security breach notification frameworks. HB3025, in particular, amends the state’s breach notification law to specify…
We have a right to information on data security breaches
David Lazarus writes: Sam Greyson was surprised to receive a new credit card the other day from Bank of America. He was also surprised to learn that the bank had changed his account number because of a security breach involving another business. But the thing that surprised Greyson most was that when he called BofA…
California and Massachusetts Legislatures Push Data Breach and Security Bills
Jason C. Gavejian writes: In distinct efforts to strengthen data security requirements, the California and Massachusetts legislatures recently passed bills affecting data breach notification requirements and data security notification, respectively. On April 14, 2011, the California senate approved S.B. 24, requiring California businesses and agencies to notify the state attorney general if more than 500 California…
States Attempt to Address Privacy Risks Associated with Digital Copiers and Electronic Waste
On April 1, 2011, a New York law went in effect requiring retailers of certain electronic equipment to institute electronic waste collection programs and to provide information to consumers on how to “destroy all data on any electronic waste, either through physical destruction of the hard drive or through data wiping.” Manufacturers of devices that have…