Many businesses monitor or record customer service, telemarketing, and other telephone calls with consumers to help them improve customer service and for evidentiary reasons. Under federal and many state laws, calls may lawfully be monitored or recorded by businesses as long as those businesses have permission from their employees who participate on the calls. However, some states require the permission of everyone participating on a call before the call may legally be monitored or recorded. And some state laws potentially implicated by monitoring and recording calls are not clear as to what is required. California is one of those states.
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Tennessee Updates Data Breach Notification Law
The State of Tennessee recently amended its data breach notification statute, Tenn. Code Ann. § 47-18-2107, which is set to go into effect on July 1, 2016. Numerous commentators have proclaimed that the amendment1 marks a watershed moment—that with the enactment of S.B. 2005, Tennessee becomes the first state to eliminate the encryption safe harbor from its data breach notification statute. However, this is not the case; Tennessee has not removed its primary encryption safe harbor. Even under the amended Tennessee law, data encryption remains an important method for securing data, and one that may reduce notice obligations if a breach occurs.
S.B. 2005 makes three changes to the breach notification statute that may impact whether Tennessee’s notification law applies to a particular data breach situation, and when organizations must send notices to affected individuals.
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SEC Increases Focus on Cybersecurity–A Look at Recent Data Security Guidance and Enforcement
In the wake of numerous cyberattacks aimed at companies spanning various industries, it is no surprise that yet another federal agency—this time the SEC—is stressing the importance of proper cybersecurity protocols for the entities it regulates. Broker-dealers, investment advisors, and others in the securities industry often have access to some of the most sensitive client and consumer financial information, making data security a high priority for the SEC.
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Privacy Laws in the Digital Age—A Push for Increased Protections
Protection of highly sensitive personal information is a growing concern for most Americans in the ever-increasing digital age, especially in the wake of large-scale data breaches from leading retail brands and healthcare providers. Although protections currently exist to counteract unwanted dissemination of private information, as well as rules mandating notification when such unwanted dissemination occurs, this growing concern has prompted the White House and Congress to take steps toward increasing protections in the context of privacy laws.
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