Tag Archives: Privacy Policy

FTC Settles COPPA Violation Charges Against Children’s Social Networking Website

Posted on November 9, 2011 by Hunton & Williams LLP

On November 8, 2011, the Federal Trade Commission announced that the operator of skidekids.com, a social networking website that advertises itself as the “Facebook and Myspace for Kids,” has agreed to settle charges that he collected personal information from approximately 5,600 children without parental consent, in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) Rule. The proposed settlement will bar future violations of COPPA and misrepresentations about the collection, use and disclosure of children’s information.

Tags: Consent Order, Consumer Protection, COPPA, Federal Trade Commission, Penalty, Privacy Policy, Safe Harbor, Social Media

Use of Google Analytics Now Lawful in Germany, Subject to Certain Guidelines

Posted on September 16, 2011 by Hunton & Williams LLP

On September 15, 2011, the data protection authority of the German federal state of Hamburg (the “DPA”) published a press release confirming that Google has significantly improved compliance with respect to the implementation of Google Analytics in Germany. This finding is the result of two years of fruitful dialog between Google and the DPA, which was acting on behalf of the conference of German data protection authorities responsible for the private sector (the “Düsseldorfer Kreis”).

Tags: Anonymization, Data Controller, Data Processor, Data Protection Authority, Germany, Google, Privacy Policy

Outsourcers Exempt from India’s Privacy Regulations

Posted on August 24, 2011 by Hunton & Williams LLP

On August 24, 2011, the Government of India’s Ministry of Communications & Information Technology issued a clarification regarding India’s new privacy regulations, known as the Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011 (the “Rules”), under Section 43A of the Information Technology Act 2000.

Tags: Data Transfer, India, Outsourcing, Privacy Policy

Representative Mary Bono Mack Releases Discussion Draft of the SAFE Data Act

Posted on June 17, 2011 by Hunton & Williams LLP

On June 13, 2011, Representative Mary Bono Mack (R-CA) released a discussion draft of the Secure and Fortify Data Act (the “SAFE Data Act”), which is designed to “protect consumers by requiring reasonable security policies and procedures to protect data containing personal information, and to provide for nationwide notice in the event of a security breach.” Representative Bono Mack is Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade. In a press release, Representative Bono Mack remarked that “E-commerce is a vital and growing part of our economy. We should take steps to embrace and protect it – and that starts with robust cyber security.” She added that “consumers have a right to know when their personal information has been compromised, and companies and other organizations have an overriding responsibility to promptly alert them.”

Tags: Consumer Protection, Credit Monitoring, Credit Report, Cybersecurity, Federal Trade Commission, Gramm Leach Bliley Act, HIPAA, Legislation, Payment Card, Privacy Policy, Social Security Number

Senators Franken and Blumenthal Co-Sponsor Location Privacy Protection Act

Posted on June 16, 2011 by Hunton & Williams LLP

On June 15, 2011, Senator Al Franken (D-MN) and Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) introduced the Location Privacy Protection Act of 2011 (the “Act”). As we reported previously, Senator Franken is chairman of the newly-created Senate subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law. In his press release, Senator Franken explained that the Act is designed to “close current loopholes in federal law” while giving customers the ability to learn about and prevent the collection of their location information. The Act would apply only to non-government entities and would not impact law-enforcement activities. At a May 10, 2011 hearing, both Google and Apple were questioned about their privacy practices, and Franken subsequently challenged them to require their application developers to adopt clear and understandable privacy policies.

Tags: Al Franken, Apple Inc., Class Action, Consumer Protection, Electronic Communications Privacy Act, Google, Legislation, Litigation, Privacy Policy, Richard Blumenthal, Video Privacy Protection Act

India Drafts New Privacy Regulations

Posted on May 18, 2011 by Hunton & Williams LLP

On April 11, 2011, India adopted new privacy regulations, known as the Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011 (the “Rules”). The Rules are final versions of the draft regulations issued in February 2011 and impose wide-ranging obligations on any “body corporate” (company) that “collects, receives, possesses, stores, deals or handles” personal information. These obligations require companies to provide privacy policies, restrict the processing of sensitive personal data, restrict international data transfers and require additional security measures. The Rules introduce an omnibus privacy law that is similar in many respects to existing EU data protection law, but which raises some fundamental challenges for India’s numerous outsourcing vendors, and their customers.

Tags: Data Transfer, India, Outsourcing, Privacy Policy

Court Finds Allegations of Harm Sufficient to Allow Breach-Related Class Action Suit to Proceed

Posted on April 22, 2011 by Hunton & Williams LLP

On April 11, 2011, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California declined to dismiss four of the nine claims in a class action lawsuit filed against RockYou, Inc. (“RockYou”), a publisher and developer of applications used on popular social media sites. The suit stems from a December 2009 security breach caused by an SQL injection flaw that resulted in the exposure of unencrypted user names and passwords of approximately 32 million RockYou users. RockYou subsequently fixed the error and acknowledged in a public statement that “one or more individuals had illegally breached its databases” and that “at the time of the breach, the hacked database had not been up to date with industry standard security protocols.” After receiving notification of the security breach from RockYou in mid-December, on December 28, 2009, a RockYou user who had signed up for a photo-sharing application filed a complaint seeking injunctive relief and damages for himself and on behalf of all other similarly-situated individuals.

Tags: California, Class Action, Hacker, Litigation, Privacy Policy

Representative Stearns Introduces Consumer Privacy Protection Act

Posted on April 15, 2011 by Hunton & Williams LLP

On April 13, 2011, Representative Cliff Stearns (R-FL) introduced the Consumer Privacy Protection Act of 2011 (the “Act”), which seeks to “protect and enhance consumer privacy” both online and offline by imposing certain notice and choice requirements with respect to the collection and use of personal information.

Tags: Advertisement, Cliff Stearns, Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, IP address, Personally Identifiable Information, Privacy Policy, Social Security Number

South Korea Enacts Comprehensive Privacy Law

Posted on April 1, 2011 by Hunton & Williams LLP

As reported in BNA’s Privacy Law Watch, on March 29, 2011, South Korea’s president approved the Act on the Protection of Personal Data. This comprehensive privacy law will require nearly all businesses and government agencies to provide data breach protection, mandate the use of privacy assessments before establishing certain new databases, and establish a right to file class actions in court over alleged violations of the law. The implementing rules will be worked out before the law is due to take effect on September 30, 2011. South Korea first attempted to enact a comprehensive privacy law in 2004; however, for the past seven years, omnibus privacy bills sponsored by the government and lawmakers have stalled in Parliament.

Tags: Class Action, Privacy Policy, South Korea

Google Settles FTC Deceptive Privacy Practice Charges Regarding Google Buzz

Posted on March 30, 2011 by Hunton & Williams LLP

On March 30, 2011, the Federal Trade Commission announced that Google agreed to settle charges that it used deceptive tactics and violated its own privacy promises to consumers when it launched its social network, Google Buzz, in 2010. According to the FTC’s complaint (main document, exhibits), Google led Gmail users to believe that they could choose whether or not they wanted to join Google Buzz. The options for declining or leaving Google Buzz, however, were ineffective. For those who joined Google Buzz, the controls for limiting the sharing of their personal information were difficult to locate and confusing. Furthermore, the FTC charged that Google violated its privacy policies by using information provided for Gmail for another purpose – social networking – without obtaining consumers’ permission in advance. Finally, the FTC alleged that Google misrepresented that it was treating personal information from the European Union in accordance with the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor framework because it failed to give consumers notice and choice before using their information for a different purpose from that for which it was collected. Continue reading…

Tags: Consent Order, Consumer Protection, Email, Federal Trade Commission, Google, Penalty, Privacy By Design, Privacy Policy, Safe Harbor, Social Media

Privacy and Information Security Law Blog - Global privacy and information security law updates and analysis

Tag Archives: Privacy Policy

Use of Google Analytics Now Lawful in Germany, Subject to Certain Guidelines

Outsourcers Exempt from India’s Privacy Regulations

Senators Franken and Blumenthal Co-Sponsor Location Privacy Protection Act

India Drafts New Privacy Regulations

Court Finds Allegations of Harm Sufficient to Allow Breach-Related Class Action Suit to Proceed

South Korea Enacts Comprehensive Privacy Law

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