By: Aaron Krowne On July 14, 2014, the New York Attorney General’s office (“NY AG”) released a seminal report on data breaches, entitled “Information Exposed: Historical Examination of Data Breaches in New York State” (the “Report”). The Report presents a wealth of eye-opening (and sobering) information on data breaches in New York and beyond. The Report is primarily based upon the NY AG’s own analysis of data breach reports received in the first eight years (spanning 2005 th

By: Aaron Krowne A heated battle regarding the general province of federal regulators over businesses’ privacy and data security practices is currently raging. We are referring to the pending case of FTC v. Wyndham Worldwide Corp., which is being much-watched in the data security world. It pits, on one side, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), with its general authority to prevent “unfair or deceptive trade practices,” against Wyndham Worldwide Corp. (“Wyndham”), a hotel ch

By: Aaron Krowne The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) has recently made a number of significant updates to its guidance for Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”). Chiefly, these updates streamline compliance requirements for COPPA’s parental consent mandate, in response to the widespread popularity of “app stores” for obtaining and running software. The updates also add support for “knowledge based identification,” a new method of verification that utilizes credi

Effective March 1, 2015, many New Jersey employers will be prohibited from making inquiries into an applicant’s criminal record on employment applications. The following is a brief list of Frequently Asked Questions concerning the new Opportunity to Compete or “Ban the Box” law. 1. Does the law apply to all New Jersey employers? No. The law only applies to employers with 15 or more employees who conduct business, employ persons or take applications for employment within the S

Cellphone companies are now using “perma-cookies” to track mobile browsing despite consumer’s do not track” requests, which permits advertisers to identify users for targeted behavioral advertising and has concerning implications for users’ privacy. OlenderFeldman Privacy Lawyer Aaron Messing Interviewed By Fox News was interviewed by Fox News regarding how cellphone companies are using various methods to track their users’ mobile browsing habits. While most people think thei

On September 23, 2014, the New Jersey Supreme Court held in Atalese v. U.S. Legal Services Group that an arbitration clause in a consumer contract is not enforceable unless it clearly indicates that the plaintiff is giving up the right to go to court. Accordingly, any company doing business in New Jersey that uses an arbitration clause in its contracts, consumer or otherwise, must make sure that the clause states in easy to read language: 1) the differences between litigation

Startup companies and entrepreneurs love to innovate. A good lawyer can help startups push the envelope while avoiding rookie mistakes. While all resources are given a premium with a burgeoning company, NJ Tech Weekly polled some of New Jersey’s top professionals – including OlenderFeldman LLP partner Christian Jensen — for their thoughts on the one major mistake that startups make that can be avoided with the right professional advice. Among the number of issues faced inclu

On December 31, 2014, the second-largest U.S. grocery chain, Safeway, was ordered to pay a $9.87 million penalty as a part of a settlement with California prosecutors related to the improper dumping of hazardous waste, and the improper disposal of confidential pharmacy records containing protected health information in violation of California’s Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (“CIMA”). This settlement comes after an investigation revealed that for over seven years

Technology can impact the way we work, play, communicate and live, and “big data” analysis – the processing of large amounts of data in order to gain actionable insights – has the ability to radically alter society by identifying patterns and traits that would otherwise go undiscovered. This data, however, can raise significant privacy concerns in the context of a merger or acquisition. Dun and Bradstreet interviewed us regarding various Tips for Customer Data Management Duri