Data Points: Privacy & Data Security Blog

Apple recently changed its privacy policy which has made headlines – it will no longer unlock iPhones and iPads for law enforcement.  Prior to this change, Apple would assist law enforcement in unlocking Apple devices when presented with a valid subpoena or court order.

According to Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, the company attempts to avoid collecting user data when it designs new technology and services.  The most recent version of Apple’s mobile device operating system, iOS 8, encrypts the data for all iOS 8 applications, such as email, call records, and iMessage, and this data is ...

A Pew Foundation study earlier this year found that 87% of all adults in the United States access the Internet or email, either through computers or mobile devices.  The same study found that of those adults, as many as 74% are using some form of social media, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.  Given those numbers, it’s no wonder that many employers are concerned with managing their employees’ use of social media at work.

The conventional wisdom among many employers has long been that access to social media can be harmful to worker productivity.  Visions of ...

In just two years, social media password protection has gone from a privacy advocate’s dream to an employer’s harsh reality in many states.  Maryland became the first state (in 2012) to enact legislation that prevented employers from requesting the user names or passwords to an employee’s or applicant’s personal social media accounts.  Two states quickly joined Maryland in 2012 by passing similar password privacy laws, and nine more states added privacy protections in 2013.

So far in 2014, six states – Louisiana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee and ...

[On June 27, 2014, Charlotte Privacy & Data Security Member Karin McGinnis and Senior Counsel Todd Taylor published the following update regarding the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Riley v. California, 573 U.S. ___ (2014)]   On June 25^th, the Supreme Court brought the Fourth Amendment into the digital age with its ruling in Riley v. California.  The case presented the question of whether a warrant was required in order for law enforcement to search a cell phone found on a suspect during the course of an arrest.  Chief Justice Roberts, writing for a unanimous court, stated clearly “[o]ur ...

Social Media - Love it or leave it? Charlotte Privacy & Data Security Member Karin McGinnis was published in Business North Carolina’s 2014 Law Journal, which was included in the publication’s May issue.  Her article, “Love it or leave it?” examines the pros and cons of social media use among businesses, and the “key strategy” – a business’s social media policy.