University's Inaccurate Understanding of FERPA Leads to Police Investigation
FERPA (The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) is a federal law that is intended to protect the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds from an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education. One of its key provisions requires that schools have written permission from the parent or eligible student in order to release any information from the student's education record.
Netflix Facebook Post Spurs SEC Clarification on Social Media Regulation
Netflix inadvertently prompted the SEC to update and clarify its regulations as they relate to the use of social media by public companies. This update was issued following an SEC investigation of Netflix chief executive officer Reed Hastings after a July 3, 2012 post on his personal Facebook page stating "Congrats to Ted Sarados, and his amazing content licensing team. Netflix monthly viewing exceeded 1 billion hours for the first time ever in June."
5 Common Mistakes in HIPAA Compliance
In 2012, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) audited select healthcare organizations for compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The agency’s findings revealed some common privacy and security mistakes among both large and small organizations:
5 Tips for Discussing Gender-Related Issues in the Workplace
Managers often find it difficult to raise gender–related issues in the workplace because they think it’s inappropriate to discuss these issues with employees. Some companies, out of liability concerns, even advise their managers to avoid these topics entirely.
Virtual Money Laundering Carries Real-World Consequences
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCen), an arm of the U.S. Department of Treasury, recently issued guidance that applies the Bank Secrecy Act’s anti-money-laundering rules to “virtual currency” -- digital currency exchanged on the Internet. The Treasury Department released the interpretation in response to growing concerns among regulators and financial institutions that virtual currencies are being used for illegal activities.
Rutgers Ejects Abusive Coach
Rutgers University faces a controversy at a time when its athletic program is preparing to join the Big Ten, an athletic conference that will put the school in the national spotlight and generate millions of dollars in revenue. On April 3, the university fired Mike Rice, the head coach of the men’s basketball team, after a video containing footage of team practices between 2010 and 2012 surfaced. The video showed Rice kicking and hurling basketballs at players and berating them with vulgar language and homophobic slurs. These events come just two years after the suicide of a Rutgers student, Tyler Clementi, following bullying involving his sexual orientation.
Sustainability Reporting: Making It Meaningful
The pressure we put on the planet’s finite resources is less of an abstraction and more of a concrete problem with each passing day. The same holds true for local and global economic inequality and social injustice. Customers, investors other stakeholders now want the opportunity to factor in the costs of external environmental, social and economic consequences of business practices when assessing the bottom line – and to know what companies are doing to reduce or eliminate those costs. Sustainability reporting provides such an opportunity and, if done correctly, can be a vehicle for showcasing a company’s progress as it moves toward more environmentally and socially conscious business practices.
“Big Data” Requires Bigger Attention to Data Privacy
The term “big data” refers to sets of information so large that they are difficult to process using traditional database techniques. The healthcare industry has recently started using big data to solve many issues affecting patient care. Big data is able to increase the quality of healthcare — while simultaneously lowering the cost — by revealing certain patterns and trends that would otherwise be unavailable to healthcare providers.
Employee Misuse of Data a Threat to Security
According to a recent study published by the Ponemon Institute, combating insider fraud and the growing threat it poses to intellectual property and corporate security should be a higher priority for employers. "Insider fraud" includes malicious or criminal attacks on business or governmental organizations — by employees and contractors — that result in the theft of financial or information assets. Even employees' casual misuse or mishandling of data may have severe consequences for companies.
Insider Trading Leads to Record $616 Million in Settlements
Last week, SAC Capital Advisors, a large hedge fund owned by billionaire Steven A. Cohen, has agreed to pay the staggering sum of $602 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to settle an insider-trading case. The civil lawsuit against SAC claimed the company sold around $1 billion in shares of two pharmaceutical companies after a former portfolio manager received a tip from a doctor that the development of a new drug for Alzheimer’s disease was not going well. At the same time, SAC also paid $14 million to settle a smaller case involving the illegal trading of technology stocks. Altogether, SAC paid $616 million to make its insider-trading problems go away.
