Category Archives: data privacy

Breach Leads to Class Action. Rinse. Repeat.

Last week Anthem experienced a data security breach that resulted in the exposure of personal information for up to 80 million people.   This week, a class action lawsuit has been filed in Atlanta.  

Here’s what plaintiffs allege:

  • World’s biggest known data breach
  • The FBI has identified health care as particularly weak in data security. 

Courthouse N…

Mandatory Encryption for Health Care Data. States Imposing Higher Standards than HIPAA.

The Garden State has mandated that all protected health information be encrypted. This new requirement applies to:

  • health providers
  • hospitals 
  • medical insurance corporations

The NJ legislation, signed by Gov. Christie, exceeds HIPAA requirements and will require encryption of:

  • patient’s name linked with:
    • a Social Security number
    • driver’s license or other state-issued identification
    • address
    • …

Downsizing Health Care Data Sharing

Private companies want access to government health care information to build their business, but they’re access to health care data is shrinking fast. HHS is severely cutting the information it is sharing with third parties.

The change was sparked after the AP reported that healthcare.gov was sending personal identifying information to third parties for marketing, advertising, and internet data performance purposes. 

Privacy advocates, the Electronic  Frontier  Foundation, …

Lege Trend: Techies Want Data Security Supremacy & Tax Relief

Georgia techies are focused on tax incentives and making Georgia the Supreme Leader in Data Security. The economic incentive proposals:

  • Extend Angel Investor Tax Credit
  • Film Tax Credits
  • “triple the qualifying period on a sales-tax exemption for companies buying more than $15 million in computer equipment, from one year to three”
    • This tax credit has made Georgia a hot spot for data centers
  • Create a committee to make Georgia a l…

Data Breach Hearings In Congress: To Pre-empt State Law or Not to Pre-Empt?

Federal law or state law? Which should have the final say over a data breach at a local business? Or, if a data breach affects a nationwide retailer? The State Of Union included a call for federal data breach laws, pre-empting state law. 

Texas Congressman Michael Burgess agrees with federal pre-emption.

He will chair the hearing on Tuesday January 27th, and said, “We need a plan in place that will help prevent data from being stolen in the first place, and will also allevi…