Zip Codes Are Not Personal Identification Information Under California Law

In Party City Corp. v. The Superior Court of San Diego County, the California Court of Appeal in the Fourth Appellate District held that zip codes are not “personal identification information” under California’s Song-Beverly Credit Card Act of 1971, California Civil Code Sec. 1747.08. Information “concerning the cardholder” is protected pursuant to the purposes of … Read more »

FSA Berates Compliance Officers in Crackdown on Data Security Breaches

Joanne Wallen of  Complinet writes about the reaction of the U.K.’s Financial Service Authority: FSA Berates Compliance Officers in Crackdown on Data Security Breaches (.pdf). The FSA focused on compliance officers for not putting enough focus on data security. Examples of good practice at firms that the FSA visited included encrypting laptops and using secure … Read more »

Additional Time to Comply with Identity Theft Prevention Regulations

The Massachusetts Department of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation have extended the deadline for compliance with 201 CMR 17.00: Business Community Given Additional Time to Comply with Identity Theft Prevention Regulations. The regulations were orginally set to take effect on January 1, 2009. That deadline has been extended to May 1, 2009.  The deadlines for … Read more »

New Data Security Regulations Have Sweeping Implications For Massachusetts Businesses

A white paper written by Joe Laferrera of Gesmer Updegrove LLP New Data Security Regulations Have Sweeping Implications For Massachusetts Businesses (.pdf) provides a great analysis of the new Massachusetts Data Privacy Regulations, their impact and how to deal with them. These are my prior posts on the new Massachusetts Data Privacy Regulations: Computer System … Read more »

Computer System Requirements for New Massachusetts Privacy Regulations

As discussed in earlier alerts (Additional Guidance on the Massachusetts Privacy Regulations, Privacy and Security Alert: Massachusetts Has New Data Security Regulations and New Massachusetts Privacy Laws), starting on January 1, 2009, businesses will be held to a higher standard regarding the protection of Massachusetts residents’ personal information. The regulations set out in detail the … Read more »