ChoicePoint to Pay $15 Million in Data Breach Settlement

Published by EPIC

On January 26, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it had reached a multi-million dollar settlement with data broker Choicepoint regarding the company's poor privacy and data security practices, as well as violations of federal law. Choicepoint will pay $10 million to the Commission and will have to pay an additional $5 million to redress the harms suffered by consumers. It is the largest civil penalty in FTC history. Further information at EPIC


LINKS:

Federal Trade Commission Press Release:

Federal Trade Commission Court Documents:

EPIC's 2004 Complaint:

Jeff Jonas interview at Technology Review

Technology Review interviews Jeff Jonas, who founded Systems Research and Development (SRD), a firm that provided software to identify people and determine who was in their circle of friends. In January 2005, IBM acquired SRD and Jonas became chief scientist in the company's Entity Analytic Solutions group.

Interview by Kate Greene.

More Jonas' Interviews:

Betting on Private Data Search (Wired News)

IAPP National Summit 2006

The International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), the world's largest association of professionals in the privacy industry, announced the opening of registration for its National Summit 2006.

Keynote speakers at the National Summit 2006:

-- Jonathan Zittrain, Co-Founder of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School.

-- Brad Smith, Senior Vice President, General Counsel, for Microsoft, who helped spearhead the company's global campaigns to bring enforcement actions against those responsible for illegal spamming, virus creation and software counterfeiting.

-- David J. Brailer, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Brailer heads President Bush's efforts to deploy widespread health-information technology within the next 10 years.

-- Christophe Pallez, Secretaire general de la CNIL, France. Secretary General Pallez has served as head of the French data protection authority since September 2005.

and my favorite ones:


4A Privacy Digital Rights Management:

Rena Mears, Partner, Deloitte
Irfan Saif, Senior Manager, Deloitte
Gary Terrell, Senior Manager, Information Security, Adobe

Digital rights management and secure documents continue to grow in importance in today’s marketplace. But they do raise serious privacy issues. Join our experts as they explore the integration of privacy protections into these technologies, and the effect upon existing privacy policies and programs.

5E Privacy and Modesty

Anita Allen Castellito, Professor of Law and Philosophy,
University of Pennsylvania School of Law

Ms. Castellito, a leading expert on the law and philosophy of privacy, will explore the constitutional and conceptual underpinnings of the law of “modesty,” a key physical aspect of privacy.

Workplace Privacy & Protecting Confidential Information Webcast

Vontu, is the industry leader in Data Loss Prevention.

Now is available this webcast:

Workplace Privacy & Protecting Confidential Information Webcast

Panel of Privacy Experts:

Gary Clayton, Privacy Compliance Group
Hilary Wandall, Director Corporate Legal/Merck Privacy Office, Merck & Co.

The big challenge in monitoring employee communications is striking a balance between protecting confidential information and employee privacy. If you are considering or have started monitoring network communications, it is important to consider the protection of employee privacy, the capacity of data that can be collected, and compliance with U.S. and E.U. Privacy Laws.

This Webcast will allow you to hear first hand from the privacy experts at Privacy Compliance Group and Merck on how to protect confidential information while safeguarding employee privacy, integrate data privacy and security, and address the complexity of U.S. and E.U. privacy laws.

Bush Visits Security Agency and Defends Surveillance

By ELISABETH BUMILLER and ERIC LICHTBLAU

Published at The New York Times: January 26, 2006

WASHINGTON, Jan. 25 — President Bush went Wednesday to the heart of the debate over the National Security Agency's eavesdropping program, the supersecret agency itself, where he sought to bolster employee morale and make a case for ordering a surveillance program that has come under increasing political attack.

Read more at: NYT

And I remenber these words by Prof. Marx:


"In one sense, there are two problems with the new surveillance technologies. One is that they don’t work and the other is that they work too well. If the first, they fail to prevent disasters, bring miscarriages of justice, and waste resources. If the second, they can further inequality and invidious social categorization; they chill liberty. These twin threats are part of the enduring paradox of democratic government that must be strong enough to maintain reasonable order, but not so strong as to become undemocratic." Gary T. MARX
Soft Surveillance: The Growth of Mandatory Volunteerism in Collecting Personal Information --“Hey Buddy Can You Spare a DNA?”