Month: April 2013

The FISA Amendments Act (FAA) enacted in 2008 and extended in 2012, has been the subject of much controversy as of late. The Act authorizes the Attorney General or the Director of National Intelligence to gather intelligence information on individuals who are “reasonably believed to be out of the United States.”…

By: Ross Woessner Great controversy surrounds the proposed Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (“CISPA”), which passed the House and is currently in the Senate.  The bill provides for voluntary information sharing between private companies and the government in order to prevent or mitigate cyberattacks. …

By: Elena D. Lobo   The past two weeks have brought about events that are surely making many government officials and privacy scholars think about our current policies in a new light. In some ways, what occurred in Boston reawakened fears that we felt in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in 2001.…

By: Zach Portnoy   A new proposal has emerged in the ever-controversial debate on immigration, which would affect not only immigrants, but also U.S. citizens.  The proposal, headlined by Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), would require all U.S. citizens and legal immigrants who wish to work to obtain biometric, Social-Security ID cards. …

By: Elizabeth Filatova Voting in the United States is a huge hassle and after every presidential election there is a discussion on all levels of government on the ways in which voting can be improved. Unlike the United States, Estonia introduced online voting in 2005.…

By: Piotr Semeniuk According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, last week the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that subsequent six states – Alabama, Florida, Kansans, Nebraska, Utah and Vermont – comply with the REAL ID Act. The Real ID Act, enacted with a motivation of enhancing national security after 9/11, sets minimum document criteria for state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards.…

By Sisi Wu In 2011, Thomas Cooley Law School filed a defamation lawsuit against a former student who criticized the school on his blog, which he called “Thomas M. Cooley Law School Scam.” The blogger, “John Doe,” sought a protective order from the trial court to prevent Cooley from disclosing his real name in court documents.…

By Josh Stager   Medical devices have the potential to significantly improve the quality of patient care, but recent innovations demonstrate that the convergence of health information technology and Big Data are testing the limits of health privacy law. As the Wall Street Journal recently explained, many new devices collect vast amounts of patient data – often without the patient’s knowledge.…

By Scott Snyder Earlier this month, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of greater privacy protection for the medical data of deceased nursing home patients.  The issue arose when family members of a deceased patient in Florida sought medical records and were denied access. …