On October 11, 2024, following the filing of a lawsuit against TikTok by the Kentucky Attorney General, Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who authored the bipartisan “Kids Online Safety Act,” requested that TikTok CEO Shou Chew provide all “documents, communications, and research held by TikTok regarding the safety of minors on
Tennessee
Four More States Pass Consumer Privacy Statutes
Tennessee, Montana, Iowa, and Indiana have each recently passed a consumer privacy statute in recent weeks. These laws follow the same trend started by California’s Consumer Privacy Act by granting consumers the right to know whether a company is processing their data; the right to access that data, obtain a copy, and to have it…
Nineteen States Have Banned TikTok on Government-Issued Devices
Governors of numerous states have issued Executive Orders in the past several weeks banning TikTok from government-issued devices and many have already implemented a ban, with others considering similar measures. There is also bi-partisan support of a ban in the Senate, which unanimously approved a bill last week that would ban the app from devices…
HIPAA Business Associate Pays $2.3 Million Settlement After Hackers Target PHI of Over 6 Million Individuals
Health care providers and contractors continue to be a popular target for hackers. Recently, CHSPSC LLC (CHSPSC), which provides various services to hospitals and clinics indirectly owned by Community Health Systems, Inc. of Tennessee, agreed to pay $2,300,000 to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in settlement of potential violations of HIPAA’s Privacy and Security…
On the Border Restaurant Suffers Data Breach
Last week, the Tex-Mex restaurant chain On the Border suffered a data breach that impacted its payment acceptance systems in 27 states. The restaurant says that some credit card information of customers who visited the chain between April and August 2019 may have been compromised. In a press release, On the Border representatives said, “Our…
Diagnostic Medical Imaging Company Pays $3 Million to Resolve Potential HIPAA Violations Stemming from Data Breach
The Office of Civil Rights (OCR), the enforcement arm of the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), announced that a Tennessee diagnostic medical imaging services company has agreed to pay $3 million to settle potential HIPAA violations arising from a data breach that exposed over 300,000 patients’ protected health information. As part of the…
Community Health System Agrees to Settlement of $4.5 Million for 2014 Data Breach
Community Health System, located in Tennessee, has agreed to settle claims made against it arising from a 2014 data breach for $4.5 million. The data breach, believed to be caused by Chinese hackers, compromised the names, dates of birth, addresses, telephone numbers, and Social Security numbers of 4.5 million patients of the hospital system, which…
Parties Seek to Centralize Saks/Lord & Taylor Data Breach Litigation
As we noted earlier this year, Saks Fifth Avenue LLC, Saks Incorporated, and Lord & Taylor previously disclosed, on April 1, 2018, that some of their customers’ personal information may have been compromised in a data breach. Those companies all share the Canadian business group Hudson’s Bay Company (collectively with Lord & Taylor LLC,…
Ten Drone Test Sites Expand States’ Regulatory Role
At test sites in 10 states –Alaska, California, Florida, Nevada, North Dakota, North Carolina, Kansas, Oklahoma, Virginia and Tennessee – the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) granted local-backed drone projects special licenses to test new ways of flying. At these test sites, drone package delivery and nighttime flights will be conducted, which are typically prohibited…
All You Need to Know About Flying Your Drone During the Solar Eclipse
Next week, on August 21, a total solar eclipse (or the alignment of the sun, moon and earth), visible from the continental U.S., will take place for the first time in 38 years. The last time this cosmic event occurred, there were no battery-powered supercomputers—smartphones—in your hand to fly a self-stabilizing, GPS-guided aircraft with a…