Photo of Kathleen Dion

Kate Dion's practice includes all aspects of civil and criminal litigation. She represents clients in complex commercial litigation, including allegations of patent infringement, breach of contract, misappropriation of trade secrets, unfair trade practices, tortious interference with business relations, and other business torts. Her experience also includes counseling clients in government investigations, internal investigations, and white-collar criminal matters. In addition, she represents institutional clients and individuals in probate litigation. Read her rc.com bio here.

The FBI recently issued a Flash Alert warning higher education institutions, K-12 schools, and seminaries about increasing numbers of ransomware attacks affecting the education industry. According to the warning, “Since March 2020, the FBI has become aware of PYSA ransomware attacks against US and foreign government entities, educational institutions, private companies, and the healthcare sector

Criminals are apparently not taking any time off during this pandemic, and in fact by all accounts have increased their attacks, particularly targeting entities whose attention is diverted to dealing with the fallout of the Covid-19 crisis. In particular, educational institutions across the country have faced a recent onslaught of ransomware attacks, often crippling an

The COVID-19 virus is having an unprecedented effect on all aspects of our daily lives, and has hit the educational system especially hard with forced closures and cancellations.  Because educational institutions play such a vital role in our communities, the Department of Education (DOE) recently issued guidance in the form of Frequently Asked Questions (Guidance)  

Based on an unprecedented number of college closures, along with complex demographic challenges showing continued reductions in the number of college-aged students, states are struggling to determine how to best protect both students and college employees. Currently, most states have been reactive, and have only taken action after a college has announced its intention to

DNA technology has assisted law enforcement in identifying criminals for decades.  The U.S. National DNA Database System stores the DNA data of millions of criminals, and allows law enforcement officers around the country to compare and match forensic evidence in this central repository.  This closed universe of DNA only contains data from individuals arrested or

The Fourth Circuit recently held that universities could be liable for Title IX violations if they fail to adequately respond to harassment that occurs through anonymous-messaging apps.

The case, Feminist Majority Foundation v. Hurley, concerned messages sent through the now-defunct app Yik Yak to the individual plaintiffs, who were students at the University of Mary Washington. Yik Yak was a messaging app that allowed users to anonymously post to discussion threads. 
Continue Reading Fourth Circuit Expands Title IX Liability for Harassment Through Anonymous Online Posts

As the myriad of Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act  (FERPA) interpretation issues continues to cloud many educators’ understanding of what is permissible and not permissible under the statute, some assistance was recently provided by the U.S. Department of Education. The Family Policy Compliance Office (FPCO) advises that as with any other “education record,” a

On January 30, 2018, EDUCAUSE, a higher education technology association, submitted a letter to the U.S. Department of Education describing concerns that it had with the Federal Student Aid (“FSA”) ability to protect federal student financial aid data. EDUCAUSE’s members include IT professionals from over 1,800 colleges and universities as well as other organizations.

First,

Last Thursday, the United States Supreme Court heard arguments in Carpenter v. United States.  At issue was whether the FBI violated the Fourth Amendment when it obtained the cellphone location records of Timothy Carpenter.  The FBI used these records to establish Mr. Carpenter’s whereabouts during time periods in which certain armed robberies occurred.  The government argued that Mr. Carpenter did not have an expectation of privacy in these records and, thus, no warrant was required.  Mr. Carpenter argued that “carrying a smartphone, checking for new emails from one’s boss, updating the weather forecast, and downloading directions ought not license total surveillance of a person’s entire life.”
Continue Reading US Supreme Court Evaluates Privacy of Cell Phone Data

Stating the obvious, college is one of the most important and expensive investments Americans make. In addition to tuition costs, from a consumer perspective, other factors should be important in deciding on a college, including graduate employment prospects, average student loan debt, and average number of semesters taken to complete a degree. If you were making a decision on buying a car, you would have access to a tremendous amount comparative information, some generated and collected by the federal government, and other information coming from the manufactures themselves.

Despite the fact that vast amounts of very detailed consumer information exists regarding colleges that could be used by students for comparison purposes, the Higher Education Act currently prevents the collation and publication of this otherwise useful comparative data. As a result of the Higher Education Act, students are left with incomplete and inconsistent data to base their college decision on. 
Continue Reading Empowerment or Intrusion? The College Transparency Act of 2017