Following in the footsteps of the New York Department of Financial Regulation (NYDFS) in enacting cybersecurity requirements for the financial services industry, and in response to massive data breaches in the insurance industry, a wave of states have either enacted or are pursuing legislation aimed at regulating the cybersecurity measures of insurance companies. In 2017, … Continue Reading
A federal judge recently held that mere allegations that a healthcare provider’s patient information portal failed to utilize sufficient security measures, without allegations of an actual breach, were insufficient to confer standing on the plaintiff. The case, Williams-Diggins v. Mercy Health—which was pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio—centered … Continue Reading
Proponents of blockchain technology, the distributed ledger system underlying bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, view the technology’s applications as potentially offering significant efficiencies to the provision of government services. Two pilot projects currently underway are geared toward exploring the technology’s potential in two key areas of services provided by state and local governments: real property recording … Continue Reading
A Columbus, Ohio based company, CivitasNow, has just become the second company ever (CNN was the first) to be granted a Part 107 waiver to fly drones over people by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The FAA gave the company approval to allow its Aerotain Skye drone to operate over unsheltered people on the ground. … Continue Reading
On February 20, 2017, UPS and Workhorse Group, an Ohio-based battery-electric truck and drone developer, successfully conducted a test that launched a drone from the top of a UPS truck, which then autonomously delivered a package to a home in Lithia, Florida, and returned to the vehicle –as the UPS truck driver continued along his … Continue Reading
This week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and ten states settled charges against the Florida-based cruise line, Caribbean Cruise Line, Inc. (CCL), for an illegal telemarking campaign that inundated consumers with billions of unwanted robocalls. In settling these charges, CCL’s owner, Fred Accuardi, and all of his companies are barred from robocalling and illegal telemarketing. … Continue Reading
Since the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) started allowing commercial drone operations, media organizations have moved quickly to get their own news-gathering drones in the skies. Recently, Sinclair Broadcast Group (Sinclair) (operator of 173 television stations across the U.S.) announced that it was going “all in” on its news-gathering drone fleet. Sinclair plans to have 80 … Continue Reading
The 6th Circuit upheld the 2014 Ohio federal court’s decision in Mais v. Gulf Coast Collections Bureau stating that two hospital patients who provided their cell phone numbers to the hospital where they sought treatment, in effect, provided consent in accordance with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) to receive automated calls from the debt … Continue Reading
Wendy’s may be the latest in a number of companies with Central Ohio operations that have suffered data breaches in recent years. On January 27, Wendy’s announced that it hired a cybersecurity firm to investigate claims of a possible credit card breach at some of its locations. Initially, the company was notified by its payment … Continue Reading
