Medical stethoscope and blue ink pen laying on appointment booklet. HIPAA privacy notices.

Deidentified Health Info under HIPAA: Deconstructing Dinerstein v. Google, LLC

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HIPAA Lawsuit
Privacy Compliance

Health data is an increasingly fraught area of privacy. Outside of sectoral health privacy laws like HIPAA, many regulations such as the GDPR and the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) rightly treat health or biometric information as a sensitive or special category of data deserving of more protections than many other types of data.

The amount of electronic heath data collected by companies is also increasing at a staggering rate. DNA testing kits and wearable fitness trackers are everywhere, and telehealth has proliferated in the wake of COVID-19.

Healthcare data controllers are just as likely to be big tech companies as opposed to traditional covered entities. Consequently, courts now need to consider a variety of privacy frameworks, not just HIPAA and HITECH, when they adjudicate healthcare claims.

In September 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois dismissed a lawsuit brought against the University of Chicago and the University of Chicago Medical Center (collectively referred to as “the University”) and Google for allegations that the University improperly disclosed healthcare data to Google as part of a research partnership. Dinerstein v. Google, LLC, No. 19-cv-04311 (N.D. Ill. 2020).

Even though the University and Google were able to shake off this lawsuit, this case touched upon several interesting questions at the intersection of HIPAA and other privacy laws:

Continue Reading Deidentified Health Info under HIPAA: Deconstructing Dinerstein v. Google, LLC
WSJPro Cybersecurity Symposium

Metaverse Law to Speak at WSJ Cybersecurity Symposium

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Metaverse Law will be one of the speakers at the Wall Street Journal’s Cybersecurity Symposium and will focus on the applicable laws and regulations per business type.

It is a two day event in San Diego, CA from Thursday, January 9 to Friday January 10, 2020. The agenda for both days includes breakfast and registration, several speakers, networking breaks, lunch, a cocktail reception on the ninth, and a cybersecurity strategy development bootcamp on the tenth.

A detailed itinerary as well as registration details can be found at https://cybersecurity.wsj.com/symposium/san-diego/#schedule

American Privacy Laws in a Global Context: Predictions for 2018

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Should putative class members have privacy rights in class action claims under the CCPA?
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[Originally published as the May 2018 Cover Story: Data Privacy and the Law – American Privacy Laws in a Global Context: Predictions for 2018, by Lily Li, in Orange County Lawyer Magazine, May 2018, Vol. 60 No.5.]

Cybersecurity Attacks Are Inevitable

Cybersecurity attacks are on the rise. According to the non-profit organization, Identity Theft Resource Center, there were over 1,579 publicly reported data breaches in 2017, compared to 1,091 in 2016, and 780 in 2015. Not only are these cyberattacks happening at high-profile companies like Equifax, Uber, and Yahoo, they are increasingly happening to businesses of all sizes. Any entity able to pay a ransom is now a potential target.

Law firms are no exception. In 2017, DLA Piper was hit with a “wiper-ware” attack, following previous email hacks of Cravath and Weil Gotshal in 2016. Earlier this year, UK-based cybersecurity firm, RepKnight, reported that almost 800,000 UK law firm email addresses and affiliated passwords were available on the dark web, with over 50% of these credentials posted in the last six months. These law firms did not just include local UK firms, but global law firms with a UK presence.

Given these alarming statistics, what should legislators do?

In the EU, Canada, and China, legislators have decided to develop and implement national data privacy and cybersecurity frameworks: GDPR, PIPEDA, and CSL respectively. The United States, by contrast, still relies upon a patchwork of sectoral laws and inconsistent state rules. This article will take a brief look at developments in the EU, Canada, and China, discuss the current United States privacy framework, and predict likely developments in U.S. privacy law over the next year.Continue Reading American Privacy Laws in a Global Context: Predictions for 2018