Welcome to the Future!
A contentious state house race in Kentucky has reached new dramatic heights when the Democratic Party sent out the arrest record of the Republican candidate, including his Social Security Number. A botched recovery for breaching data privacy by the Democratic Party isn’t helping this situation. The Republican called on the state Attorney General to investigate.
This campaign oops moment has led to more talk of better data security laws. [Good Morning America]
Tech companies have been contributing exponentially more to campaigns and causes that are not favored by the perceived liberal core of Silicon Valley.
Some argue the tech company liberal core isn’t liberal but rather libertarian. Just look to the hearty response Rand Paul received recently in Silicon Valley.
Tech companies want changes to data privacy laws. Tech companies generally support increased protection for your data privacy and they are putting their money where there mouths are. [Politico]
Personal data protection is a concern world wide. Australia created a Privacy Commissioner to monitor the protection of personal data privacy. Some argue that the Privacy Commissioner enforcement powers exclude state and local governments and thus isn’t effective. A legislative proposal seeks to revoke the Privacy Commissioner. [The Guardian]
FCC wades into data security enforcement by fining two telecom companies $10M for failing to properly secure their customer data. Does the PUC have this power? [WSJ]
Data breaches. There’s a new one every week. Cybersecurity experts say the only way to address the issue is long term legislative and political reform. Bruce Schneier, a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard says there should be more regualtion on business to secure our personal information. What does those regulations looks like?
That’s a lot of business regulation. [Sacramento Business Journal]
News reports allege that Staples had a data breach. There’s a long list of retailers that have endured a data breach.
Forbes discusses the role personal repsonsibility has in data breach corrections. Legislating personal responsibility is challenging. The modus operandi of the Legislature is putting into place new regulations on retailers, banks and/or creating new civil or criminal penalties. [Forbes]
Almost a year ago, Target experienced a large data security breach through a third party vendor. This data breachprompted federal and state legislation, and class action law suits.
The Target data breach led to at least 27 federal causes of action in 18 different federal courts. MDL, multi district litigation, is a hot topic for the Texas Legislature. MDL was addressed in 2003 tort reform legislation and in various asbestos litigation reforms.
If Texas creates causes of action related to data privacy, be assured, MDL will be discussed. [Southeast Times Record]
The FBI is sharing frightening information. 500 Million financial records have been hacked.
Can you hear all those bills being written? Legisaltor comments write themselves: FBI statistics indicate that 500 million financial records have been hacked. These vicitms deserve justice for the invasion in their privacy. This bill will give the vicitims of hacking justice….
What remains to be seen is whether these bills will go after the hackers? after the financial institutions for not protecting the information better? Will it be civil penalties or criminal penalties?[USA Today]
The Internet Association has been active in D.C. It’s now setting its sights on shaping student data security legislation and ride sharing legislation. It formed a California PAC. Next stop is Texas. [The Recorder]
All federal debit and credit cards will require PIN and chip technology. President Obama required the data security measures by issuing an executive order. The Order is heralded by the National Retailers Federation. [Roll Call] [The Hill]
Refreshing Recollection: The same chip and pin technology is discussed by several interim committees examining increasing Texas’ data security. [Business & Industry March 27, 2014]