Discerning Data

Smart Uses of Data Analytics for In-House Counsel

The effective use of data analytics is quickly changing the legal landscape and the practice of law for the better. This is a fast-changing area where today’s “use cases” will be quickly superseded by new and more powerful uses of these technologies. This post discusses key areas where in-house counsel may consider the use of data analytics either as a solely in-house measure or in connection with engagements with outside counsel.

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Continued Special Privacy Treatment for Substance Use Disorder Information

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee recently passed the Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018 (OCRA) – a bipartisan package of more than 40 proposals designed to help families and entire communities affected by the nation-wide opioid crisis.

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SEC Cyber Unit Brings Groundbreaking Data Breach Case

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced its most significant case ever filed against a respondent for one of the world’s largest data breaches. Albata, Inc., f/d/b/a Yahoo! Inc., (“Yahoo”) settled with the SEC to charges of violating Section 17(a)(2) and 17 (a)(3) of the Securities Act of 1933 (“Securities Act”), amongst other charges, and agreed to various remedies, including a $35 million penalty.

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Head of DOJ Antitrust Division Addresses Implications of Data Privacy in the Era of Big Data

Assistant Attorney General of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Antitrust Division, Makan Delrahim recently spoke at the University of Chicago’s Antitrust and Competition Conference and discussed how U.S. antitrust law should treat “big data.” According to Delrahim, antitrust law is “flexible enough to address competition issues from emerging platforms,” including large tech companies like Google and Facebook that possess significant market share within their lines of business and simultaneously aggregate vast sums of personal data from consumers.

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Senate Confirms All Five Nominees to the FTC

The Senate officially confirmed the five nominees to the Federal Trade Commission on April 26. As noted in previous blogs, Joseph Simons will become the new chairman and Joshua Phillips, Rebecca Slaughter and Rohit Chopra will join the Commission immediately.

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Sedona Conference Working Group on Data Security and Privacy Liability Releases Draft Incident Response Guide

The Sedona Conference®, a nonprofit research and educational think tank dedicated to the advanced study of law, particularly in information governance, has released its Incident Response Guide , open for public comment through June 19, 2018. Drafted by Working Group on Data Security and Privacy Liability (WG11), the guide is meant to serve as a practical resource for practitioners dealing with the legal, technical, and policy issues related to data-related incidents – from distributed denial-of-service to ransomware attacks.

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