Tag Archives: Massachusetts

MA Sports Wagering Regulators Take Aim at Data Privacy

Following the March 2023 rollout of mobile sports wagering in Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission has been hard at work promulgating the various regulations needed to oversee Massachusetts’ burgeoning sports wagering industry, which includes both brick-and-mortar locations as well as mobile apps.  The quick pace of regulatory implementation following the sports wagering statute’s passage last August has found the Commission wanting to promulgate some more complex regulations after having had time to further consider them – among these are the currently-proposed regulations (page 14) on data privacy,… More

Massachusetts Governor Issues Executive Order to Strengthen State’s Cyber Defenses

Governor Charlie Baker recently took steps to strengthen cybersecurity in Massachusetts by signing an executive order on December 14, 2022 creating an advisory panel to improve the state’s cyber defense. The new state task force will assess existing resources, develop contingency plans, and identify strategies for preventing future cyberattacks.  The goal of the task force is to ensure that the Bay State is at the forefront of the ever-evolving cybersecurity landscape.… More

First Circuit Creates Exception to Massachusetts Wiretap Statute Based on First Amendment Rights, Allows Citizens and Press to Record Police Activity Without Permission

The First Circuit’s recent opinion in Project Veritas Action Fund v. Rollins, upheld a challenge to the Massachusetts anti-wiretap law, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 272, § 99, carving out an exception for certain activity protected by the First Amendment.   The opinion begins:

Massachusetts, like other states concerned about the threat to privacy that commercially available electronic eavesdropping devices pose,… More

Massachusetts AG Creates “Data Privacy and Security Division”; What Enforcement Changes Will Follow?

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey recently announced the creation of the Data Privacy and Security Division within her office, with the stated goal of “protect[ing] consumers from the surge of threats to the privacy and security of their data in an ever-changing digital economy.”

The leadership of the Office of the Attorney General’s (OAG’s) privacy and security efforts will not change:  Sara Cable,… More

The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Complaint Against Equifax

As most are aware, the Massachusetts Attorney General has won the race to the courthouse and been the first regulator to file suit against Equifax.

  • The 28 page complaint is summed up on paragraph 4:Consumers do not choose to give their private information to Equifax, and they do not have any reasonable manner of preventing Equifax from collecting, processing, using, or disclosing it. Equifax largely controls how,…
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The Future of Data Privacy Regulation in Massachusetts? AG’s Office Foreshadows State Action on Consumer Data in First-of-its Kind Conference

What is the future of data privacy regulation in Massachusetts?

On March 24, 2016, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office gave us a glimpse. In collaboration with Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, and MIT’s Internet Policy Research Initiative and Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, the AG’s Office convened a “Forum on Data Privacy.”  In this first-of-its-kind conference,… More

State Securities Regulators in Massachusetts and Illinois Survey Investment Advisors on Cybersecurity Practices

Picking up on the SEC’s initiative to assess cybersecurity preparedness discussed here previously, state securities regulators in Massachusetts and Illinois sent to investment advisors registered in their respective states a survey on their cybersecurity practices.

The Massachusetts surveys were sent on June 3 and a response is due on June 24. William F. Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth, whose jurisdiction includes the Massachusetts Securities Division,… More

Rare Massachusetts Superior Court Decision Interpreting the CFAA Takes the Narrow View Without Squarely Addressing the Broad

This is a cross-post from our sister blog, Massachusetts Noncompete Law:

Judge Peter M. Lauriat of the Massachusetts Superior Court decided late last year that an employee who takes confidential documents from her employer’s electronic document system to use in a discrimination lawsuit against her employer is not liable to the employer under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), especially when the employer knew about the lawsuit but nonetheless did not restrict the employee’s access to those documents while she was working for the employer. … More

HHS OCR Cites Faulty Risk Analysis, Lack of Policies in Addition to Breach by Physician Practice

In what may be a sign of things to come, a recent HHS OCR resolution agreement with a dermatology practice cites not only the loss of some 2,200 records on a thumb drive, but the lack of an “accurate and thorough analysis of the potential risks and vulnerabilities to the confidentiality of ePHI” and “[t]he Covered Entity did not … have written policies and procedures and train members of its workforce”;… More