On 4 May 2022, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) launched a consultation (available here) to request views from the tech industry on potential interventions to enhance security and privacy requirements for firms running app stores and developers making apps.Continue Reading Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport launches consultation on app security

This post was also written by Frederick Lah.

In the midst of all the recent attention on mobile apps and their privacy challenges, BlackBerry has unveiled a new “privacy notice” service that alerts customers about apps that “don’t clearly or adequately inform users about how the app is accessing and possibly managing customers’ data.” According

This post was also written by Frederick Lah.

Earlier today, FTC Chairman Leibowitz announced the agency’s update to the COPPA rule at a press conference alongside Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), and Congressmen Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Joe Barton (R-Tex.). The changes to COPPA were two years in the making and were

Reed Smith attorneys Amy Mushahwar and Joshua Marker, of the firm’s Data Security, Privacy & Management practice, interviewed Travis LeBlanc, California’s Special Assistant Attorney General for Technology. Mr. LeBlanc oversees the California attorney general’s office’s new Privacy Enforcement and Protection Unit. Mr. LeBlanc had a number of interesting insights regarding this new office and indicated

This post was written by Amy S. Mushahwar.

Today, in response to the controversy surrounding cellphone tracking software from Carrier IQ, U.S. Representative Edward Markey (D-MA) released a draft of a cellphone privacy bill.

As background, the Carrier IQ software first made headlines in November, when a researcher posted a YouTube video claiming to show

And, Adds a Third Arena in the Senate for Privacy Discussions

This post was also written by Chris Cwalina, Amy Mushahwar & Mike Sacks.

On Monday, Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) introduced a bill entitled, “Do-Not-Track Online Act of 2011,” that will kick off a dialogue over how and in what circumstances companies should be allowed to collect certain types of consumer information online. In the bill’s present form, it appears that most information collection would need to occur on an opt-in basis, which would be a significant departure from the current self-regulatory standard.

Sen. Rockefeller’s bill adds to the web of privacy activity in the Senate and is the third in a flurry of actions relevant Senate committees have recently taken to address privacy issues. In mid-April, Senators John Kerry and John McCain introduced their “Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights Act” into the Commerce Committee, where Kerry serves as the Chair of the Communications, Technology, and the Internet Subcommittee. On Tuesday, May 10, the Judiciary Committee’s Privacy Subcommittee held a hearing on mobile privacy, bringing in Apple and Google executives to testify. And, Sen. Rockefeller’s bill now joins the Kerry-McCain bill in the Senate Commerce Committee.Continue Reading Rockefeller Introduces Do Not Track