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Employee Privacy
      
Date Article Title Publication Author Synopsis
9/19/2011 Senators have privacy issues with background screening firm The Hill Gautham Nagesh Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Al Franken (D-MN) have submitted a list of questions to an employment screening service looking for information on whether it violates applicants' privacy and the law. 
9/15/2011 NY court challenge to GPS tracker on worker's car Wall Street Journal Associated Press A New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) lawyer is arguing that placing a GPS tracking device on an employee's private car violates an individual's right to privacy.
5/26/2011 Facebook Firing III -- NLRB Strikes Twice in May! Information Law Group Information Law Group Organizations planning to fire employees based on comments they've made using social media may want to know about three recent enforcement actions taken by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). 
11/22/2010 70% of workers would take corporate data when leaving a company Out-law News   When leaving a job, 70 percent of employees indicated they would take corporate data with them. 
10/18/2010 Employees' Personal Info Found In Trash news4jax.com   The owner of a recently closed tax company franchise admitted to disposing of former employees' records in a dumpster behind the tax service building in Jacksonville, FL. 
10/8/2010 Marking six months of increased ICO enforcement, with no fines seen SC Magazine Dan Raywood It's been six months since the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has had the power to issue fines of up to £500,000, but it has yet to collect such a fine.
10/6/2010 IAB damns ‘re-spawning’ of cookies as an act of evil Silicon Republic.com John Kennedy The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Europe has condemned the practice of re-spawning because it circumvents a user's choice to allow cookies and erodes consumer trust.
9/20/2010 Politicians call for 'geotagging' laws ahead of data summit The Local   German politicians today called for data protection regulations ahead of a summit in Berlin on issues such as geotagging and online mapping services.
8/16/2010 Finance Company's GPS Proposal Raises Privacy Issues Maine Public Broadcasting Network   Officials in Maine are concerned about a finance company's recent query about placing GPS devices in financed vehicles.
6/16/2010 Employee monitoring: When IT is asked to spy ComputerWorld Tam Harbert As more corporate infractions such as leaking intellectual property, sharing trade secrets and violating regulatory requirements are occurring via the Internet.
6/14/2010 5 Social Media Risks CIOs need to be Wary of: ISACA CIO India News Lisa Banks Companies should embrace social media while encouraging employees to make themselves aware of the risks involved.
5/11/2010 Workers should expect no privacy with office e-mail Philadelphia Enquirer Ruth Mantell In the wake of several high-profile cases of employees' inappropriate use of company pagers and e-mail systems, there is an increasing tension at the boundary between work and personal life.
4/30/2010 Vt. ponders more monitoring of worker web surfing Associated Press Dave Gram The topic of employee privacy is commanding attention from the Supreme Court to the Green Mountains. 
4/5/2010 Ruling suggests limits on employer's access to personal e-mail Network World Ellen Messmer New Jersey Supreme Court decision that employees should have an expectation of privacy when they use personal e-mail accounts on corporate computers is raising new questions.
1/20/2010 Controversial App Provides Background Checks On the Go PC World Tony Bradley A new iPhone application gives users the ability to conduct up to three free background checks using their mobile device. 
12/21/2009 Your Boss and Your Blackberry New York Times The Editors U.S. Supreme Court decided to hear a highly charged privacy case--Quon v. Arch Wireless. 
12/14/2009 Court to review employer access to worker messages Washington Post Associated Press The U.S. Supreme Court this morning decided to hear a case on the privacy of employee text messages sent on employer-provided devices.
12/14/2009 Supreme Court Takes Texting Case New York Times Adam Liptak In a highly charged employee privacy case, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Quon v. Arch Wireless, the outcome of which will determine the limits of an employee's expectation of privacy when texting on an employer-provided device and service.
12/13/2009 Critics voice doubts over German data storage plan DW-World.de Kyle James A report that starting in January the personal behavior of more than 40 million German workers registered with the country's national pension plan will be stored in a national data bank. 
12/7/2009 The Turducken Approach to Privacy Law New York Times Adam Liptak Last June in a dissent protesting the court's refusal to hear an employee privacy case, Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the U.S. Ninth District Court of Appeals likened his colleagues' reasoning to a turducken - a poultry dish in which a chicken is stuffed into a duck, which is stuffed into a turkey.
12/2/2009 N.J. Supreme Court hears arguments on the privacy of personal e-mails on work computers nj.com Mary Fuchs The state Supreme Court in New Jersey heard oral arguments in a case about employee e-mail privacy.
11/23/2009 When Your Boss Wants Your DNA National Public Radio Joseph Shapiro Officials at the University of Akron are reviewing their new hiring policy, which permits them to request a DNA sample from new employees.
11/19/2009 Some Courts Raise Bar on Reading Employee Email Wall Street Journal Dionne Searcey Despite some employers' insistence that they have carte blanche to e-mail traffic on the company server, some legal experts say recent court decisions indicate that employees are gaining a right to e-mail privacy in the workplace.
10/27/2009 German rail firm pays 1.1m fine over employee snooping Out-law News   Germany's national rail firm will pay a 1.1 million euro fine for monitoring its employees.
10/18/2009 Jury's $1.8 million verdict a call for privacy rights Chicago Tribune Ameet Sachdev After a four-year legal battle, North American Corp. has been ordered to pay a former employee $1.8 million for obtaining her telephone records without her permission and under false pretenses. 
10/15/2009 Discipline handed out over Bozeman privacy flap Montana's News Station   The city commission in Bozeman, Montana voted to place three city employees on a six-month long probation for their roles in a controversial information-collection practice for screening employees.
8/25/2009 Israeli sites weak on protecting privacy Haaretz.com Ido Baum Researchers from the University of Haifa and Tel Aviv University studied hundreds of popular Israeli Web sites, finding that the majority fail to protect the personal information collected from visitors.
8/5/2009 Text messages on company-owned equipment State Bar of Wisconsin Deborah Spanic In an article for the State Bar of Wisconsin Business Law Section newsletter, Deborah Spanic of Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek S.C. delves into the recent Ninth Circuit ruling in Quon v. Arch Wireless Operating Co, which examined an employee's reasonable expectation of text message privacy when using company-owned equipment. 
8/4/2009 Court rules employer did not violate workers' privacy Los Angeles Times Maura Dolan The California Supreme Court has ruled that Pasadena-based Hillsides, Inc. did not violate the privacy of two employees by outfitting their office with a surveillance camera.
7/22/2009 Democrats, Republicans Seek to Add Biometrics to E-verify Workforce Management Mark Schoeff Jr. The Senate Judiciary Committee approved an immigration enforcement measure that would establish an employment verification system that includes a biometric component. 
7/10/2009 Personal data requirements raise eyebrows Federal Computer Week Alice Lipowicz Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans to collect more personal identifiers from its employees has elicited concern.
6/20/2009 Bozeman to job seekers: We won't seek passwords Cnet News Natalie Weinstein Bozeman, Montana officials have rescinded a policy that required job applicants to divulge their user names and passwords for Internet chat rooms and social networks.
6/18/2009 Want A Job? Hand Over Your E-Mail Login CBS News Declan McCullaugh Officials in Bozeman, Montana want job applicants' usernames and passwords for Internet chat rooms and social networks so they can thoroughly vet potential public employees.
6/2/2009 Q&A with Philip Gordon IAPP   Employers hold Social Security numbers, sensitive health data, financial records and other confidential, personally identifiable data. 
6/2/2009 How to Secure Sensitive Data Before a Layoff Occurs eweek.com Gregory Shapiro Sendmail CTO Gregory Shapiro offers seven steps companies can take to protect their confidential information, intellectual property and brand before a layoff occurs. 
5/19/2009 Bosses and Workers Disagree on Social Network Privacy Wall Street Journal Andrew LaVallee Employers and employees have different attitudes about what is private, according to the results of a new Deloitte survey. 
4/27/2009 Can you no longer avoid closely monitoring employees? Network World Ellen Mesmer Insider threat said to be increasing IT security risk in tough economic times.
4/23/2009 Employers Watching Workers Online Spurs Privacy Debates Wall Street Journal Dionne Searcey A case headed to New Jersey's federal court on June 9 could begin to clear the murky legal landscape of privacy in the workplace. 
4/21/2009 Is your boss watching? Arizona Daily Star Enric Volante Software for monitoring your every keystroke and click of the mouse keeps growing in sophistication and availability. That makes it easier for an employer to enforce its Internet-use policy.
4/16/2009 7 of 10 IT pros have found sexual, other inappropriate material on employees' laptops ComputerWorld Eric Lai Nearly three-quarters of corporate security and IT professionals in the U.S. have found "inappropriate" pictures, videos or browser cache links on employee laptops, a survey released Wednesday shows.
4/16/2009 Golden rules to stop redundant staff accessing sensitive data  ComputerWeekly Quantcast
Mark Fullbrook
The threat to an organisation is increased exponentially when the access is through administrative, shared or privileged accounts - these represent the most powerful IT users in an organisation, often providing wide-ranging access to most systems, applications or databases within the enterprise.
3/4/2009 RIM records all employee calls ZDNet Suzanne Tindal Robin Bienfait doesn't apologize for the fact she records employees' communications. And, says the CIO of Blackberry maker Research in Motion (RIM), it doesn't violate their privacy. 
2/23/2009 Workers 'stealing company data' BBC News Maggie Shiels New research from the Ponemon Institute reveals that the majority of employees take a piece of their employer with them before walking out the door.
11/14/2008 Survey:  Employee Data More Vulnerable Than Constituent Data Government Technology Hilton Collins Constituent data is better protected than employee data in the public sector, according to recently released study results.
9/14/2008 Employers Admit Checking Facebook Before Hiring PC World Carrie-Ann Skinner Twenty percent of companies surveyed by Careerbuilder.com said they check job candidates' social networking. profiles before making an offer of employment
9/8/2008 Privacy Piracy KUCI Mari Frank In this KUCI "Privacy Piracy" interview, IAPP president Sandy Hughes talks to Mari Frank about being the top privacy executive at an $80 billion dollar company that operates in dozens of countries; her experiences testifying before Congress; and how she stays one step ahead on privacy, even in the breakneck-speed pace of today's business environment, where new privacy regulations emerge regularly.
9/4/2008 Canadian privacy commissioner says biometric scanners nothing to worry about Sun Media Andrew Hanon After an investigation into complaints filed by employees ordered to use thumb and hand-scanners on the job, Alberta privacy commissioner Frank Work said biometric scanning devices do not violate individuals' privacy.
7/28/2008 How to keep corporate secrets a secret eweek.com H. Abelson Data leaks of personal information bring organizations bad press and customer unrest, but the authors of a prescient book say potentially more catastrophic for corporations is the leak of trade secrets, customer lists, pricing data, and other critical assets. 
7/17/2008 What's behind the rash of employee cybersnooping? ComputerWorld Jay Cline Citing several high-profile cases of employees snooping into the files of well-known individuals, Jay Cline explores the topic of employee cybersnooping in his latest report for Computerworld. Should organizations be concerned about the kind of celebrity file tampering that occurred at UCLA Medical Center, the U.S. Department of State and the Internal Revenue Service earlier this year--which exposed medical, passport and tax data of celebrities?
6/30/2008 NI Numbers of 140,000 visable on tax envelopes Mail Online Michael Lea Daily Mail reports that tax forms sent to 140,000 Britons included their National Insurance numbers, visible on the mailing envelope alongside their names and mailing addresses. The sender, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), blamed a wrongly calibrated machine for the error and has agreed to flag the tax records of those affected in order to fend off the increased threat of identity fraud.
6/30/2008 Privacy campaigners may sue EC over provision of citizens' personal data to the FBI SC Magazine Richard Thurston The European Commission may face legal action if, as expected, it finalizes an agreement for the release of EU citizens' data to the United States government, says an SC Magazine report. The pact, once implemented, would allow law enforcement and security agencies to collect EU citizens' credit card transactions, travel histories, Internet browsing habits and other personal information in an effort to counter terrorism activities. 
6/30/2008 NI Numbers of 140,000 visable on tax envelopes Mail Online Michael Lea Daily Mail reports that tax forms sent to 140,000 Britons included their National Insurance numbers, visible on the mailing envelope alongside their names and mailing addresses. The sender, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), blamed a wrongly calibrated machine for the error and has agreed to flag the tax records of those affected in order to fend off the increased threat of identity fraud.
6/30/2008 Privacy campaigners may sue EC over provision of citizens' personal data to the FBI SC Magazine Richard Thurston The European Commission may face legal action if, as expected, it finalizes an agreement for the release of EU citizens' data to the United States government, says an SC Magazine report. The pact, once implemented, would allow law enforcement and security agencies to collect EU citizens' credit card transactions, travel histories, Internet browsing habits and other personal information in an effort to counter terrorism activities. 
6/27/2008 A Company Computer and Questions About Email Privacy New York Times Jonathan Glater The case of a fired financier has the potential to set a precedent in what has been an ambiguous area of the law so far, says a New York Times report. Connecticut's federal court will hear the case of Scott Sidell, the plaintiff who alleges his former bosses read his personal Yahoo e-mail messages after he had left the company, raising questions about employees' personal privacy when using company equipment.
6/27/2008 A Company Computer and Questions About Email Privacy New York Times Jonathan Glater The case of a fired financier has the potential to set a precedent in what has been an ambiguous area of the law so far, says a New York Times report. Connecticut's federal court will hear the case of Scott Sidell, the plaintiff who alleges his former bosses read his personal Yahoo e-mail messages after he had left the company, raising questions about employees' personal privacy when using company equipment.
6/25/2008 United States: Connecticut Becomes Only The Second State To Mandate An Employee Data Protection Policy Mondaq Philip Gordon Earlier this month, the Daily Dashboard ran the news of Connecticut's passage of a law to protect the personal information of those who work in the state. Connecticut is only the second state to mandate employee data protection policies, and An Act Concerning the Confidentiality of Social Security Numbers goes into effect October 1. 
6/25/2008 United States: Connecticut Becomes Only The Second State To Mandate An Employee Data Protection Policy Mondaq Philip Gordon Earlier this month, the Daily Dashboard ran the news of Connecticut's passage of a law to protect the personal information of those who work in the state. Connecticut is only the second state to mandate employee data protection policies, and An Act Concerning the Confidentiality of Social Security Numbers goes into effect October 1. 
6/20/2008 Sweden adopts eavesdropping legislation SC Magazine Richard Thurston A bill set to take effect in January gives a Swedish intelligence agency the right to scan international communications without a court order
6/20/2008 Digital rights activists take Irish Government to court Silicon Republic.com John Kennedy Digital Rights Ireland (DRI) is challenging the nation's data retention law in the High Court. DRI says the Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Act of 2005, which mandates the retention of all electronic communications data--including telephone calls, emails, instant messaging and posts on social networking sites--for 10 years, leaves citizens vulnerable to wrongdoing.
6/20/2008 Sweden adopts eavesdropping legislation SC Magazine Richard Thurston A bill set to take effect in January gives a Swedish intelligence agency the right to scan international communications without a court order
6/20/2008 Digital rights activists take Irish Government to court Silicon Republic.com John Kennedy Digital Rights Ireland (DRI) is challenging the nation's data retention law in the High Court. DRI says the Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Act of 2005, which mandates the retention of all electronic communications data--including telephone calls, emails, instant messaging and posts on social networking sites--for 10 years, leaves citizens vulnerable to wrongdoing.
6/19/2008 FSA fines stockbroking firm 77,000 for weak data security Computer Weekly   Britain's Financial Services Authority (FSA) fined Merchant Securities £77,000 for failing to secure customers' data.
6/19/2008 FSA fines stockbroking firm 77,000 for weak data security Computer Weekly   Britain's Financial Services Authority (FSA) fined Merchant Securities £77,000 for failing to secure customers' data.
6/17/2008 Workers should expect little computer privacy, experts say greenvilleonline.com Ron Barnett & Ben Szobody The attention surrounding an investigation in Greenville County South Carolina has likely reminded county employees that they should have "no expectation of privacy" when it comes to their use of county computers.
6/17/2008 Workers should expect little computer privacy, experts say greenvilleonline.com Ron Barnett & Ben Szobody The attention surrounding an investigation in Greenville County South Carolina has likely reminded county employees that they should have "no expectation of privacy" when it comes to their use of county computers.
6/10/2008 Q & A with IAPP Practical Privacy Series Speakers IAPP Philip Gordon Earlier this week we heard about Stanford University's loss of up to 72,000 personnel records. Last month it was AT&T. Employers are using ever-widening "screening" methods in their hiring processes, and recent survey results revealed that many large enterprises are monitoring employees' communications regularly. 
6/10/2008 Q & A with IAPP Practical Privacy Series Speakers IAPP Philip Gordon Earlier this week we heard about Stanford University's loss of up to 72,000 personnel records. Last month it was AT&T. Employers are using ever-widening "screening" methods in their hiring processes, and recent survey results revealed that many large enterprises are monitoring employees' communications regularly. 
5/2/2008 Court says feds don't have to reveal names San Francisco Chronicle Bob Egelko The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has ruled that the names of employees involved in a botched investigation into a fatal firefighting operation in the Salmon-Challis National Forest do not have to be revealed.
5/2/2008 Court says feds don't have to reveal names San Francisco Chronicle Bob Egelko The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has ruled that the names of employees involved in a botched investigation into a fatal firefighting operation in the Salmon-Challis National Forest do not have to be revealed.
4/23/2008 A show of support  Workforce Management Kristin Gunderson Hunt A growing trend within many companies is the formation of both ad hoc and employer-sanctioned on-site support groups to help employees cope with medical or lifestyle issues.
4/23/2008 A show of support  Workforce Management Kristin Gunderson Hunt A growing trend within many companies is the formation of both ad hoc and employer-sanctioned on-site support groups to help employees cope with medical or lifestyle issues.
4/10/2008 Planning a company social network?  Don't forget privacy issues Computer World Jay Cline While some companies are blocking employee access to social networking sites for fears of lost productivity and privacy issues, others are considering implementation of an internal social network designed to keep employees' attention on the job.
4/10/2008 Planning a company social network?  Don't forget privacy issues Computer World Jay Cline While some companies are blocking employee access to social networking sites for fears of lost productivity and privacy issues, others are considering implementation of an internal social network designed to keep employees' attention on the job.
2/3/2008 Opinion: State Employee Records Should Be Public East Valley Tribune Le Templar Columnist Le Templar argues that the employee records for state employees should be available for public scrutiny. Open government, he argues, is dependent upon transparency, and the fact that state employee records are protected establishes a veil of secrecy that fosters mistrust. 
2/3/2008 Opinion: State Employee Records Should Be Public East Valley Tribune Le Templar Columnist Le Templar argues that the employee records for state employees should be available for public scrutiny. Open government, he argues, is dependent upon transparency, and the fact that state employee records are protected establishes a veil of secrecy that fosters mistrust. 
12/19/2007 Case Provides Guidance On Email Privacy In The Workplace Law.com Legal Technology Kelly D. Talcott Kelly D. Talcott, a Partner in the New York Office of K&L Gates, takes a look at the facts of a bankruptcy case that resulted in a 4-part test to determine whether the attorney-client privilege applies when an employee sends personal emails to an attorney over a company's communications system. 
12/19/2007 Case Provides Guidance On Email Privacy In The Workplace Law.com Legal Technology Kelly D. Talcott Kelly D. Talcott, a Partner in the New York Office of K&L Gates, takes a look at the facts of a bankruptcy case that resulted in a 4-part test to determine whether the attorney-client privilege applies when an employee sends personal emails to an attorney over a company's communications system. 
9/18/2007 Star Tribune publisher forced to step down Minneapolis Star Tribune Matt McKinney Star Tribune Publisher Par Ridder was forced to leave his post for one year after a judge ruled that he took confidential data from his former employer, the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Ridder is subject to an injunction that bars Ridder from entering his office for one year -- a move the lawyers for the Pioneer Press had argued was necessary to prevent further damage to the newspaper his family ran for 80 years. 
8/31/2007 Suit filed over security steps at NASA facility New York Times Andrew Revkin Workers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, which is operated for NASA by the California Institute of Technology, are suing over new security measures, which require nongovernmental workers to provide background information and sign waivers to allow for in-depth checks of past employment, interviews with neighbors and other security measures.
7/25/2007 New York Cabbies May Strike Over GPS Tracking Information Week K.C. Jones New York City cab drivers have threatened to strike over the Taxi and Limousine Commission's plan to require global positioning system (GPS) tracking devices in all cabs. 
7/24/2007 Whose E-mail Is It Anyway? Mondaq Joseph Poluka & Michelle Gitlitz Courtney This Mondaq News article reviews the relevant cases related to email privacy stemming from Fourth Amendment-related cases and the emerging issue of attorney-client privilege.
7/12/2007 FTC asked to probe background checks on rail workers Washington Post Ellen Nakashima A group comprised of privacy, civil liberties and labor advocates are asking the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate alleged violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) related to the dismissal of about 100 railroad workers after their employers conducted background checks. 
 
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