Life insurance company Globe Life was hit with two class-action lawsuits last week in the U.S. District Court for Eastern Texas over its failure to protect the personally identifiable information (PII) of its customers when unauthorized access to information systems was gained in 2024.
The U.S. District Court for Western Washington partially dismissed a class-action complaint Tuesday claiming that a hospital violated the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and other laws. Plaintiffs alleged that Overlake Hospital Medical Center implemented the Facebook Tracking Pixel and other browser plugins on its website, then disclosed website users' information to third parties, including Facebook and Google, without consent, in violation of HIPAA and the center's privacy policies.
Washington state bills requiring privacy and AI transparency are apparently dead after missing a Friday cutoff to clear fiscal committees in the legislature. However, child privacy bills in the House and Senate cleared their respective fiscal committees in time.
Vermont Rep. Monique Priestley (D) criticized a comprehensive privacy bill introduced Thursday in the state Senate. Sen. Thomas Chittenden (D) introduced S-93 on the same day that the Senate Institutions Committee started walking through the Senate version (S-71) of Priestley’s previously introduced H-208, which also seeks a broad data privacy law (see 2502130013).
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that eyewear company Warby Parker must pay a $1.5 million penalty after a data breach that violated the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Security Rule, the department announced Thursday.
House Commerce Committee Republicans on Friday requested public input on potential federal privacy legislation. The elimination of a private right of action, preemption of state privacy and AI laws and conflicts with existing federal law were among the topics Republicans outlined in their request for information (RFI).
New Mexico lawmakers are weighing whether to join states like Washington and New York in passing health data privacy bills. The New Mexico House Health Committee voted 5-4, with Republicans voting no, to narrowly advance HB-430 at a livestreamed hearing Monday. Increased urgency in some states to protect reproductive health data privacy since President Donald Trump returned to the White House has driven interest in such legislation (see 2502210015).
More states are considering measures that protect the privacy of reproductive health data in the wake of President Donald Trump’s return to the White House, privacy experts said in recent interviews.
The Montana Senate could soon vote on a bill broadening how many businesses are covered by the state's comprehensive privacy law. Meanwhile, in Kentucky, a House panel advanced a bill tweaking healthcare exemptions in that state's data privacy law.
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