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The Expanding Scope of Corporate Information Security Obligations
Protecting the security of corporate information and computer systems is becoming a major legal requirement for businesses. Driven by several recent highly publicized security breaches involving personal information, strong pressures are building for enhanced corporate obligations to implement appropriate information security measures to protect personal data and the people it describes.
Described by many as the 'perfect storm,' the latest chapter in the controversy began in mid-February 2005. At that time, ChoicePoint, Inc. disclosed that sensitive personal information it had collected on 145,000 individuals had been compromised, and was at risk of unauthorized use for purposes such as identity theft. In the 7 months that followed, more than 71 additional companies, educational institutions, banks, and federal and state government agencies (almost all household names) also disclosed security breaches involving sensitive personal information in their possession. Taken together, these breaches involved records on more than 50 million individuals. (For a chronology of these security breaches and a running total of the number of individuals affected, see Privacy Rights Clearinghouse at www.privacyrights.org/ar/ChronDataBreaches.htm.)
New legislation, regulations, lawsuits, and Congressional hearings, all focused on the adequacy of corporate security and notification of the affected individuals, quickly followed the disclosure of these security breaches. Coupled with already developing law, the net effect is that we are seeing the imposition of new and significant legal obligations on most businesses. As a result, companies need to look closely at the state of their compliance efforts in this highly charged environment.
Major Differences In UK, U.S. Copyright Laws
This article highlights how copyright law in the United Kingdom differs from U.S. copyright law, and points out differences that may be crucial to entertainment and media businesses familiar with U.S law that are interested in operating in the United Kingdom or under UK law. The article also briefly addresses contrasts in UK and U.S. trademark law.
The Article 8 Opt In
The Article 8 opt-in election adds an additional layer of complexity to the already labyrinthine rules governing perfection of security interests under the UCC. A lender that is unaware of the nuances created by the opt in (may find its security interest vulnerable to being primed by another party that has taken steps to perfect in a superior manner under the circumstances.
Strategy vs. Tactics: Two Sides of a Difficult Coin
With each successive large-scale cyber attack, it is slowly becoming clear that ransomware attacks are targeting the critical infrastructure of the most powerful country on the planet. Understanding the strategy, and tactics of our opponents, as well as the strategy and the tactics we implement as a response are vital to victory.
Legal Possession: What Does It Mean?
Possession of real property is a matter of physical fact. Having the right or legal entitlement to possession is not "possession," possession is "the fact of having or holding property in one's power." That power means having physical dominion and control over the property.
The Stranger to the Deed Rule
In 1987, a unanimous Court of Appeals reaffirmed the vitality of the "stranger to the deed" rule, which holds that if a grantor executes a deed to a grantee purporting to create an easement in a third party, the easement is invalid. Daniello v. Wagner, decided by the Second Department on November 29th, makes it clear that not all grantors (or their lawyers) have received the Court of Appeals' message, suggesting that the rule needs re-examination.