It seems that every time we turn around, there’s new data or Internet legislation on the table that the media describes along the lines of “similar to the GDPR,” or “GDPR-like.” It makes sense, of course, given that the GDPR is the most important legislation on privacy in several generations, though it can blur some… Read More
It’s easy to criticize companies like Facebook or Google for their conduct when it comes to data, largely because they are so frequently the subject of widely-publicized reports and news articles. The stories documenting tech giant misdeeds (ironically, often displayed in Facebook’s newsfeed) demonstrate a growing awareness of surveillance capitalism and surveillance states, as well… Read More
We’re starting something new, a weekly collection of some of the stories that we saw or found interesting but, for some reason, didn’t have time to address meaningfully (by which we mean throw as many gifs at as possible). This week is heavy on government action, which is a good indication of the trends we’re… Read More
Let’s talk about values. We sometimes talk about “use cases” for data, which is a shorthand for “how do you intend to make this particular information set perform a new category of work or combine with other information sets to perform a new category of work.” It’s important, as we discuss in Data Leverage, to… Read More
One of the questions we hear most frequently is “what are we doing wrong?” We almost always try to flip that question around into “what can we do better,” because we’re big believers in the notion that providing goals, rather than chastising, creates the right kind of mindset about data privacy and managing a data… Read More
It’s that time of year again – the FTC has released its report on enforcement activity in 2018, including its efforts at enforcing privacy promises. It was, as you might expect, a busy year, with major proceedings instituted against a number of high-profile entities like Uber, Paypal, and Facebook. Although the total amount in fines… Read More
I do my very best to make sure that our blog isn’t profusely littered with obscure legal theories and ongoing commentary about Supreme Court rulings. I do so for the same reason that I try not to make legal jokes on here: most people don’t care, and the things lawyers find interesting/funny are groaningly groan-inducing… Read More
I’m in beautiful Dana Point, California for the annual Local Search Association conference (a blog post all about it to follow tomorrow), enjoying the views, the atmosphere, and the news that data security is still top of mind for leaders in the Golden State. Just yesterday, California AG Xavier Becerra proposed an amendment to the… Read More
Now that it’s January and everyone is finally returning to the reality where things don’t always taste like peppermint or eggnog (or both, which is just….no), it’s a good time to think about how you’re going to approach 2019. This time of year is rife with predictions and, more often, guesses about what privacy, tech,… Read More
We are proud to announce the release of our book, Data Leverage: Unlocking the Surprising Growth Potential of Data Partnerships. This book, which outlines our approach to establishing partnerships, sharing data, and protecting data assets, is a single-source guide for what we believe the most important aspects of data management programs are. We could not be… Read More
Yext throws probably the most compelling conference in digital knowledge. Heck, it’s probably the best conference in New York this year. With headliners like Neil deGrasse Tyson, Dr. Hannah Fry, and David Blaine, there was some solid star power that captured the essence of the conference: Knowledge is Power. On day two, we had the opportunity… Read More
Another week, another series of massive data breaches. Of the few we heard about in the last seven days, none are as concerning as Facebook’s breach involving more than 50 million user accounts. Those are the kinds of numbers that, depending upon how the breach occurred, could incur a massive penalty at the hands of… Read More
Today we’ll talk about something near and dear to my heart: data security for lawyers. I recognize that this is not a topic that many lawyers want to discuss, or one that they feel comfortable discussing. But the reality is that data security is an important part of being a lawyer, even if it’s not… Read More
“There’s no way the federal government is going to create a federal privacy law.” “It’s just not going to happen.” “Not a chance, no way, forget it.” “There isn’t a political will in Washington to get it done, and so we can all just assume that it’ll all be only the states issuing regulations for… Read More
It’s been just about three months since the GPDR went into effect, it’s what makes sense for many people right now to be wondering just how the whole process is going. After all, it was all anyone in the media wanted to talk about for months leading up to May 25. Now? There doesn’t seem… Read More
We’ve spent a good deal of time here talking about the risks of data breaches and how to create structures that help prevent them. We’ve even talked about common kinds of breaches and what they mean for your business. But, of course, no matter how much we talk about this stuff, there’s a never-ending supply of… Read More
Yesterday, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued a long-awaited ruling in a case called LabMD v. FTC. Followers of the case will tell you that it has been, to put it mildly, an interesting saga, and it hits on the biggest data related issues of the past fifteen years. The ruling has serious implications for… Read More
The news just has not been kind to Facebook the last three months. First the Cambridge Analytica scandal breaks, then the company runs those wrong-footed commercials (“Sorry for selling access to your data and, you know, for stuff like Brexit“), and now comes the revelation that the apologies needed to go much deeper. Despite an… Read More
You’ve taken all the steps – shut down EU operations, turned off German language translation, and ceased taking Euros. You canned the entire PR department in Dublin and moved your cloud storage from Charleroi to Sheboygan. You’ve even put up a giant American flag on the website. And just when you thought it was safe… Read More
It has been amazing to watch the GDPR grip public attention in a way that no data security or privacy law ever has. I mean, when GQ is writing articles about it, you know something big is going on. The coverage has ranged from the thoughtful to the paranoid, and most of it really misses… Read More