Data Strategy and Legal Compliance
I think Facebook could probably characterize 2019 year-to-date as “less than fantastic.” The ongoing fallout from Cambridge Analytica in the UK, massive consumer distrust, the internal strife between what appears to be Team Zuck versus Team Cheryl, and now the looming multibillion-dollar fine that FTC seems to be preparing. It’s enough to make you drink.… Read More
Transparency is one of the principles driving recent developments in data privacy and data security. We’ve spent a lot of time discussing how important it is to be open with consumers and data subjects, to give them a clear idea of how their data is used, and why. The primary reason for this is to… Read More
It’s Data Protection Day, the happiest day of the year! A year ago, we were talking about the changes that GDPR would bring, and how to gear up operations to ensure that you didn’t violate the law or mislead your customers. The premise was simple: transparency is a fundamental precept under GDPR (and US law),… 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
One day before the midterm elections, and we’re fully into the silly season of data-related legislation in the United States, with prospective members of Congress setting forth their approach to managing privacy and security with a variety of proposals that are….let’s call them “interesting.” I say “interesting” because it’s intriguing to see that candidates treat… Read More
Last week, I attended the 40th ICDPPC in Brussels, which is the global meeting of all privacy and data security regulators. The theme of the conference was “Debating Ethics,” and it was a deep dive into the interplay between digital commerce, regulation, and human dignity. There were representatives from around the globe, of course, but… Read More
We were fortunate to present at the B2SMBi Conference last week, which gathers small and medium sized businesses (“SMB”) and the service providers that allow them to grow and function at scale. It was a great event, with everyone from micro-startups to Google in attendance, and it provided great insights into the concerns SMBs and… 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
“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 reached that time of year when everyone is basically in summer mode – non-work plans being made, last day of school or first day of camp lunches being packed, the inevitable first sunburn (for me, not the kids). It’s the time of year when there’s also a downshift in activity, and (even in the… Read More
It’s been a whirlwind few weeks since GDPR came into effect, and it seems that many people are learning about privacy rights for the first time. Plenty of them are making data subject access or deletion requests, including against the biggest players in the market. Even though there were years’ worth of stories about data… 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
And so, at long last, the GDPR is the law, and we leave behind the relatively lower standards under the Data Protection Directive. The Directive, which has been on the books for more than two decades, now passes into obsolescence, like beepers or, in Miami, traffic laws. Now, we’ll all start to learn what the… Read More
Living in Miami means we deal with hurricanes. For most Floridians, the response to a Category 1 or 2 storm is to buy enough food for a hurricane party and binge Netflix until the power goes out. A Category 3 means block the windows, and at a Category 4, we’re gone. The problem is that… Read More
One of the things that clients talk to me about the most is how to make sure that the data security plans that they have in place makes sense. If you think about it, much of the advice that you see on the Internet or from talking heads on television is related to companies that… Read More
My kids have a tendency to throw rules of evidence around at one another when they’re arguing because, you know: lawyer kids. One of my favorite lines is “you have no evidence at all that I did that!” which is usually called out despite blatant, overwhelming proof to the contrary, like the culprit being covered in… Read More
After last night’s State of the Union, it seems like a good time for taking stock and planning for the coming year. Although it’s unlikely that you’ll be interrupted dozens of times with applause (or boos), taking the time to carefully lay out your data strategy and data security plans for the year is good practice and, in some ways, it might even be mandatory. Read More
