A spokesperson for the university sent me the following statement, dated December 7, on the recently disclosed breach involving the theft of a laptop from an employee’s car on November 10: Pepperdine University officials were notified that restricted information of current and former employees, including students, might have been compromised through a stolen University laptop…
'UK DNA database by stealth' proposed in £100m NHS project
Kelly Fiveash reports: Prime Minister David Cameron is to announce plans for the NHS to create a massive database of patients’ DNA, which experts have advised could lead to massive health benefits and advances in medical technology. However the creation of such a database has obvious and far reaching privacy implications. In an attempt to…
Preventing a breach – and a tragedy – by a simple technique
The Australian radio station hoax that managed to obtain and publish medical details of Kate Middleton has fueled a lot of public commentary. At so many points, the breach – and what appears to be the suicide of the nurse who put the call through – might have been avoided. I feel sorry for everyone…
Laptop computer stolen from ambulance in Flint
How do you report that a laptop computer was stolen from an ambulance and not even raise the question as to whether patient data were on the laptop? Beats me.
Duchess of Cambridge could sue for privacy breach
Alecks Devic reports: The radio station at the centre of the royal hoax call scandal could face legal repercussions, including legal action from the Duchess of Cambridge over the broadcasting of her private medical details. Legal experts say the prank call was a clear breach of several laws, including those concerning listening and surveillance devices,…
Cheng v. Romo and Applying Unauthorized Access Statutes to Use of Shared Passwords
Orin Kerr writes: The federal computer crime statutes punish unauthorized access to a computer. As regular readers know, courts are hopelessly divided on what this language means, and in particular what makes an access to a computer authorized versus unauthorized. In Cheng v. Romo, 2012 WL 6021369 (D. Mass. Nov. 28 2012), Judge Casper authored an…