Monthly Archives: December 2014

Medical Billing Provider and its Former CEO Settle FTC Charges That They Misled Consumers About Collection of Personal Health Data

In an age when many of us briskly scroll through website terms and conditions and check, “I agree” without thinking, how should businesses design their websites to obtain proper authorization to access users’ sensitive information? The announcement of the settlement of a pair of recent FTC complaints against PaymentsMD, a medical billing services provider and its former CEO, and the resulting settlement, provide some important guidance,… More

NLRB Disregards Security Concerns in Ruling That Employees Have a Right to Use Employers’ Email Systems for Non-Business Purposes

Our colleages have analyzed a significant NLRB decision in Purple Communications Inc. that, in most circumstances, employees have a right to use employer email systems for non-business purposes during non-working time. This decision reversed the NLRB’s 2007 decision in Register Guard, in which it found that employers could limit employee use of email systems to “business purposes only” and that employers could “specifically prohibit” certain email system uses by employees:

  • In reaching this conclusion,…
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Five Tips to Help Companies Protect Themselves from Data Breaches

Hand press on Shopping Cart iconWith every swipe of a credit card this holiday season, consumers put their faith in the companies that process and store their information. Yet, it is no secret that data breaches are on the rise, hitting companies large and small. Massive data breaches recently struck Target and Home Depot, to just name a few, and these two breaches alone affected hundreds of millions of consumers and cost the companies hundreds of millions of dollars.… More