Privacy

A January data breach at Middletown, Conn.-based Community Health Center Inc. may have exposed medical records and Social Security numbers of more than 1 million residents there and in several other states.

Officials at Arizona’s capital city have elevated an executive into the new role of chief privacy officer. She will help to improve data governance, mitigate privacy risks and ensure compliance with privacy laws.

U.S. officials commemorated Data Privacy Day in several ways, ranging from spreading awareness to sharing informational materials at state and local levels. Observance of the occasion originated in 2007.

The Federal Trade Commission has issued a warning about phony text messages sent to residents about supposed tolls they owe. The surge in SMS spam has been linked to increased activity by foreign bad actors.

District leaders should convene a privacy team to familiarize themselves with applicable privacy laws, conference speakers said. They should formalize a process for vetting apps and train staff on best practices.

The state Attorney General’s office sued Change Healthcare and two co-defendants over the alleged exposure of financial account details and protected health information of at least 575,000 Nebraskans.

The incident Dec. 1 downed computer and most phone systems at two hospitals in southeast Los Angeles County, and one in Los Angeles. Urgent care centers, doctors’ offices, and a home health and hospice agency were also compromised.

Once several were damaged, local officials decided they needed to clarify what these sensors were and weren’t. Last year, the town posted a small sign beneath many clarifying their function.

Between remotely monitoring their kids' laptops and texting and emailing them during class, some educators say that parents have become a significant source of distraction during class time.

Has your smartphone become a listening device? Are your apps gleaning information from your conversations? How can you check and what can you do to regain more privacy? Let’s explore.  

Information collected by wearable technology, from smartwatches to fitness trackers and smart rings, is safeguarded by laws in some states. But much of it falls outside the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, and can be sold or provided to third parties.

A Northern District judge threw out a lawsuit Nov. 13 alleging a trucking company violated the state Biometric Information Privacy Act. She ruled a clarification to Illinois' biometric data privacy law from state lawmakers earlier this year limits the size of damages that can be claimed.

Earlier this year, a software engineer based in Huntsville, Ala., launched DeFlock, an online map where users can plot automated license plate readers in their cities as part of an effort related to privacy awareness.

Mailers in the Golden State reading “Who you vote for is private, but whether you vote is public record” are intended to get out the vote but could intimidate, an expert said. Maryland and Virginia residents have reportedly received similar fliers.

Experts say school districts are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on contracts with computer monitoring vendors like GoGuardian and Gaggle without fully assessing their privacy and civil rights implications.

The nonprofit EdTech Leaders Alliance started a list of Scary Apps last year to raise awareness of ed-tech tools with “privacy policies that should give K-12 educators a fright.” A new one is posted each day of October.

Three Boulder, Colo., residents share their thoughts on the prospect of putting artificial intelligence-powered cameras in K-12 schools, weighing the pros of security and the cons of surveillance differently.

School districts nationwide have widely adopted platforms to track what students search online; roughly half of U.S. K-12 public schools use a system from GoGuardian. Critics, however, raise concerns about privacy, free speech, lack of transparency, and what happens to student data.