Blog Archive (Year: 2020)
Notifying affected individuals: What should I put in the letter?
Notifying affected individuals that their privacy has been breached is a very important step in responding to a privacy breach and should happen very quickly once you have identified who has been affected by the privacy breach. In cases where the privacy breach is potentially very large, or you may not be able to identify... read more
Should you provide your child’s HSN to their school?
Have you ever filled out a form for your child’s school and wondered if they really need all the information they are asking for? Among other personal information, your child’s school might request their health services number (HSN). The Commissioner has not yet dealt with this issue in a formal report so this is just... read more
Sample access request policy and checklist
In a number of reports issued by my office, we have recommended that the towns/villages/municipalities develop an operational policy regarding processing access to information requests. After a number of questions, it became clear that there didn’t seem to be a sample policy developed for small towns/villages/municipalities. Larger organizations have developed policies that are applicable to... read more
Circle of Care
When my office investigates privacy breaches in the health care sector, at times, the defense, the explanation, or the reason given is that one believed they were in the “circle of care”. What is the circle of care? It certainly is not used in The Health Information Protection Act (HIPA). I did find one definition on the... read more