Another day, another suit against a brand name for allegations of violation of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). Plaintiffs’ attorneys are having a field day filing class action lawsuits based on BIPA. Late last week, Google was sued in Cook County, Illinois in a proposed class action, alleging that it violated BIPA by … Continue Reading
Last week, we wrote that Quest Diagnostics reported in a security filing that a collection agency performing collections for the company had suffered an intrusion that exposed almost 12 million individuals’ personal and financial information [view related post]. Another lab company reported days later that it was notified that the information of 8 million of … Continue Reading
Two law firms were among the latest victims of the GozNym malware attack that caused a combined loss of more than $117,000. Law enforcement authorities recently announced the dismantling of a cybercrime network that used this GozNym malware to attempt to steal an estimated $100 million from victims in the United States and around the … Continue Reading
The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) this week approved an information security model rule package aimed at improving the cybersecurity posture of the 17,543 state-registered advisers. The proposed model would require state-registered investment advisers to establish written cybersecurity policies and procedures designed to safeguard clients’ records and information, and to deliver its privacy policy … Continue Reading
Hotel chain Fillmore Hospitality, LLC is the latest target of a proposed class action complaint filed this week, alleging violation of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). We don’t usually discuss the specific allegations in BIPA cases, but since they continue to populate the litigation landscape, we thought it would be instructive to take … Continue Reading
Two more companies are under fire for alleged violations of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). Loews Hotel in Chicago was recently sued in the Circuit Court of Cook County for allegedly violating BIPA by collecting employees’ biometric information and sharing it with third parties without the employees’ consent. According to the suit against … Continue Reading
Companies doing business in Illinois should consider getting up to speed on the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). We have reported on numerous (but not all) cases filed against technology companies and employers for alleged violations of BIPA [view related posts here]. The class action lawsuits continue to get filed at a rapid pace, … Continue Reading
In an effort to promote the development of new financial technology (fintech) products, Mick Mulvaney, Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), announced last week the creation of the Office of Innovation. Mulvaney said the new division, to be run by Paul Watkins under the umbrella of the CFPB, is designed to foster … Continue Reading
In Belleville, Illinois, drones were used as part of a law enforcement investigation into a school threat this week. Both police and fire crews used their drones to monitor the school and to help determine whether there was a credible threat. Belleville Assistant Chief J.P. Penet said, “Our job was to operate in the air … Continue Reading
Unfortunately, it was another busy data breach week. Here’s a summary of the major ones. Delta Airlines admitted in a statement that the payment card data of several hundred thousand customers might have been compromised by malware between September 26 and October 12, 2017, through a third-party vendor ([24]7.ai that provides online chat services to … Continue Reading
An Illinois federal judge has ruled that a fundraising company working for a nonprofit, tax exempt organization did not violate the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) when it called a number listed on the National Do Not Call Registry because the activity fell within the nonprofit exemption of TCPA. The ruling is significant as there … Continue Reading
We have been following biometric cases in Illinois, including the case against Shutterfly [view related posts]. Late last week, an Illinois federal judge denied Shutterfly’s motion to dismiss the case against Shutterfly alleging that it violates the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act when collecting and storing face geometry scans through facial recognition software. In allowing … Continue Reading
The Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) has notified 2,500 patients that their personal and health information has been lost in the mail. The affected patients were mothers and newborns enrolled in the newborn screening program operated by ADHS. The compromised information was contained on paper records, including names, addresses, Social Security numbers, health insurance … Continue Reading
The Illinois Department of Employment Security has revealed that somewhere between 1.2 million and 1.4 million Illinois residents who have received unemployment benefits from the State of Illinois have had their names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers compromised through a hacking of its vendor’s database. The residents are those seeking jobs and using … Continue Reading
American Eagle Outfitters (American Eagle) settled a class action filed against it for alleged Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) violations for $14.5 million last week. The class action complaint alleged that American Eagle send unsolicited text message messages to over 600,000 unique cell phone numbers without prior written consent as required by the TCPA. The … Continue Reading
Last week, an Illinois federal judge approved a $49.9 million settlement between US Coachways, a national charter bus and bus rental company, and a class of plaintiffs, represented by lead plaintiff James Bull for Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) violations. The class action alleged that US Coachways sent a “staggering” amount of text messages to … Continue Reading
On May 26, 2016, Illinois Senator Terry Link filed a proposed amendment to the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act that would presumably ease the rules relating to the collection and use of biometric data. What irked some is that he reportedly tacked it onto a bill that deals with unclaimed property. The next day, Senator … Continue Reading
Last week, an Illinois judge dismissed with prejudice five of the six claims levied against Advocate Health Care in a consolidated case of ten cases filed against it following the data breach it experienced in July of 2013 when four unencrypted laptops were stolen from its administrative office, exposing the data of four million patients. … Continue Reading
An Illinois man recently filed a proposed federal class action alleging that Facebook violates state law protecting the privacy of biometric data through its alleged collection of facial recognition data from over a billion faces on uploaded photos. As many Facebook users are aware, the social networking service automatically matches persons in uploaded photos. According … Continue Reading
