Photo of Linn Foster Freedman

Linn Freedman practices in data privacy and security law, cybersecurity, and complex litigation. She is a member of the Business Litigation Group and the Financial Services Cyber-Compliance Team, and chair’s the firm’s Data Privacy and Security Team. Linn focuses her practice on compliance with all state and federal privacy and security laws and regulations. She counsels a range of public and private clients from industries such as construction, education, health care, insurance, manufacturing, real estate, utilities and critical infrastructure, marine and charitable organizations, on state and federal data privacy and security investigations, as well as emergency data breach response and mitigation. Linn is an Adjunct Professor of the Practice of Cybersecurity at Brown University and an Adjunct Professor of Law at Roger Williams University School of Law.  Prior to joining the firm, Linn served as assistant attorney general and deputy chief of the Civil Division of the Attorney General’s Office for the State of Rhode Island. She earned her J.D. from Loyola University School of Law and her B.A., with honors, in American Studies from Newcomb College of Tulane University. She is admitted to practice law in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Read her full rc.com bio here.

We previously alerted readers to the fact that the most recent data compromise of 23andMe exposed data related to Ashkenazi Jews and individuals of Chinese descent. It is reported by Ars Technica, citing TechCrunch, that “nearly half of 23andMe’s 14 million users’ [information] was hacked,” estimated at 6.9 million users.

23andMe is notifying affected users.

On January 9, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced its settlement with X-Mode Social and its successor Outlogic that will prohibit them “from sharing or selling any sensitive location data that could be used to track people’s visits to sensitive locations such as medical and reproductive health clinics, places of religious worship and domestic

Because technology develops so rapidly, and “trends” are fast and furious, it is always hard to predict what the big issues will be for the next year. A year is a long time in the tech field. Just look at how fast ChatGPT became a sensation, with consumers and businesses falling quickly behind in analyzing

Montana’s legislature last year passed legislation, signed by the Governor, to ban the use of TikTok within the borders of the state, seeking to protect Montana consumers’ personal information and limit spying by the Chinese government through TikTok.

Some Montana users sued Montana to block the ban. A federal judge in Montana issued a preliminary

On December 15, 2023, the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a Secure by Design Alert and guidance on “How Manufacturers Can Protect Customers by Eliminating Default Passwords.”

The guidance was created by CISA to “urge technology manufacturers to proactively eliminate the risk of default password exploitation by implementing principles one and three of

On December 8, 2023, New York Attorney General Leticia James penned her approval to an Assurance of Discontinuance with third party dental administrator Healthplex, settling the enforcement action for $400,000 and a litany of data privacy and security compliance requirements.

The AG’s investigation commenced following a November 24, 2021, successful phishing attack against Healthplex. The

On Monday, December 18, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released its report on takeaways gleaned from a public event it held in October with creative professionals, including artists and authors. The 43-page report, entitled, “Generative Artificial Intelligence and the Creative Economy Staff Report: Perspectives and Takeaways,” provides an insider view of the FTC’s interest

We previously wrote about how toys, baby monitors, and other smart devices collect, use, and disclose personal information about children, and risks to children’s privacy. As adults responsible for the safety of children in our care, learning about how smart devices collect, use, and disclose personal information of children should be a top priority, just

There was a big win for the good guys against the bad guys this week. On December 13, 2023, after obtaining an order from the federal court in the Southern District of New York to seize U.S. based infrastructure and take offline websites used by a group Microsoft identifies as Storm-1152, Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit