Opinion

Privacy-information services: The free, the cheap and the pricey

By Jay Cline

April 27, 2009 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld - A top affliction of privacy professionals is the growing complexity of privacy laws. The number of jurisdictions regulating data privacy and the number of other laws in which privacy provisions are tucked has increased with no letup since 2000. Like the Lilliputians in Gulliver's Travels, the tiniest jurisdictions are now lassoing their privacy ropes around the mightiest of corporations.

Where does this leave those who are charged with keeping their organizations privacy-compliant? Desperately looking for a way to organize news about all of these developments.

I recently surveyed the landscape of possible solutions to this problem. What did I find? Three different approaches: free Web sites, newsletters and news feeds; fee-based periodicals; and fee-based databases, such as Nymity's PrivaWorks, Cecile Park Publishing's DataGuidance and law firm Morrison and Foerster LLP's Summit Privacy.

What were the pros and cons of each approach?

Free sources

Privacy leaders with no budget will want to exploit what's free, including these options:

Morrison & Foerster's Privacy Library, probably the most comprehensive and current free online listing of privacy laws in 95 countries.
Law firm Baker & McKenzie's annual Global Privacy Handbook, which is distributed to clients and friends.
Computerworld's own Security Newsletter, which offers a regular look at news about the technical threats to personal data.
The International Association of Privacy Professionals' Daily Dashboard, Canada Dashboard Digest and monthly Inside 1to1: Privacy. These are the best available free news feeds on privacy.

I've been a Daily Dashboard junkie for years, and keep an online collection of links to hundreds of articles featured in the Dashboard.

When it comes to analysis of developments in privacy law, many law and consulting firms also offer free newsletters. Table 1 offers a full list, including instructions on how to sign up.

Table 1: Law and Consulting Firm Privacy Newsletters

A number of firms offer excellent, succinct analysis of developments in data privacy, security and retention.

Firm	Newsletter	Scope	Frequency	Sign-up
Alston & Bird	Privacy & Security Advisory	U.S. and global data protection; finance and health care	As developments occur	Contact
Alston & Bird	Health Care Advisory	U.S. health care	As developments occur	E-mail
Baker & McKenzie	Global Privacy Newsletter	Global privacy developments	Monthly	Contact
Baker & McKenzie	Privacy Matters	Hong Kong and China privacy and data protection	Quarterly	E-mail
Baker & McKenzie	CPO Corner: Interviews with Leading Chief Privacy Officers	Privacy benchmarking information	Quarterly	E-mail
Bird & Bird	Privacy & Data Protection Update	EU data protection, all industries	Monthly	E-mail
BNA International	World Data Protection Report	Global privacy and data protection	Monthly	Contact
Boston Privacy Group	Think Privacy	U.S., data privacy and security	As developments occur	E-mail
Cabinet Gelly	Ad hoc privacy news	Data protection in France, all industries	As developments occur	Contact
Covington & Burling	Covington Advisories & E-Alert	Global privacy and data protection, all industries	As developments occur	Contact
Davis & Gilbert	D&G Alerts	Advertising, marketing, promotions	As developments occur	E-mail
Dechert	Privacy OnPoint	EU data protection and US information security	As developments occur	E-mail
DLA Piper	E-Commerce and Privacy Alert	Privacy and e-commerce	As developments occur	E-mail
Ernst & Young	Top Privacy Issues - Global	Global data privacy	Annual	E-mail
Ernst & Young	Global Information Security Survey	Global information security	Annual	E-mail
Field Fisher Waterhouse	BCR Update	Binding corporate rules	As developments occur	E-mail
Foley & Lardner	Foley & Lardner LLP's Privacy, Security & Information Management Newsletter	U.S. and global privacy and security	Monthly	E-mail
Goodwin Procter	Privacy Newsletter	Global privacy and data protection, all industries	As developments occur	E-mail
Hunton & Williams	Huntonprivacyblog.com	Global privacy, security, and information management; all industries	As developments occur	Contact
Informatica Security & Privacy	The Pulse	Data privacy and security; finance, health care	Monthly	Contact
Jones Day	Jones Day Commentary - Privacy	Global privacy and data protection	As developments occur	Contact
Kelley Drye & Warren	Kelley Drye Client Advisories	Global privacy and data protection, all industries	As developments occur	Contact
Law Office of Kris Klein	The Klein & Kratchanov Report	Canadian privacy and access to data	Monthly	Contact
Littler Mendelson	Workplace Privacy Counsel	Global privacy and data protection, all industries	As developments occur	Contact
McDermott Will & Emery	Hot Topics	U.S. and global privacy and data protection; health care	As developments occur	Contact
Meyerowitz Communications Inc.	Privacy & Data Security Law Journal	U.S. privacy, all industries	Monthly	E-mail
Morrison & Foerster	Morrison & Foerster Client Alert	Global privacy and data protection, all industries	As developments occur	Contact
Perkins Coie	Perkins Coie Privacy and Security Updates	Global privacy and data protection, all industries	As developments occur	Contact
Rebecca Herold & Associates	The Privacy Professor	Worldwide privacy and information security	Quarterly	E-mail
Sidley Austin	Sidley Updates	Privacy, data security and information law	As developments occur	Contact
Speechly Bircham	Inform: IP, Technology & Commercial	EU data protection, all industries	Monthly	Contact
Venable	The Download	U.S. privacy, all industries	Monthly	E-mail
Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon	WildmanHarrold Privacy & Security Resource Center	U.S. privacy, security, and new media	As developments occur	E-mail
Wiley Rein	Privacy in Focus	Data privacy and security, all industries	Monthly	Contact
Winston & Strawn	Privacy and Technology Bulletin	U.S. consumer, health care, financial, and online privacy, data breach and security	Quarterly	E-mail
Proskauer Rose	A Moment of Privacy	Online newsletter	Monthly	Contact
Proskauer Rose	Privacy Law Blog	Online blog	As developments occur	Contact
Proskauer Rose	New Media and Technology Law Blog	Blog	As developments occur	Contact

Source: Minnesota Privacy Consultants, 2009

Comments ()

Additional Resources

WHITE PAPER

Forrester Consulting - Optimizing Users and Applications in a Mobile World

Solving application issues over the WAN requires careful consideration. Based on their independent research, Forrester Consulting offers recommendations on how to tackle application performance issues, insufficient bandwidth and the inability to quickly restore users in a disaster.

Read now.

WHITE PAPER

Enter the Security KnowledgeVault

Security is not an option. This KnowledgeVault Series offers professional advice how to be proactive in the fight against cybercrimes and multi-layered security threats; how to adopt a holistic approach to protecting and managing data; and how to hire a qualified security assessor. Make security your Number 1 priority.

Read now.

WHITE PAPER

Cut Communications Costs Once and for All

New IP-based communications systems are being deployed by small and midsized businesses at a rapid rate. Learn how these organizations are enabling faster responsiveness, creating better customer experiences, speeding office or mobile interactions, and dramatically reducing existing communications costs.

Read now.

Top Stories

Free Insider Guide

Excel 2010 Cheat Sheet: Register for this Computerworld Insider Cheat Sheet and gain access to hundreds of premium content articles, guides, product reviews and more.

Privacy White Papers

Overcome Top 7 Admin Challenges of Active Directory: As Active Directory's role in the enterprise has drastically increased, so has the need to secure the data. Gain insight on creating repeatable,...
Insiders Can Ruin Your Company. Take Action.: Did you know that 80 percent of threats to an organization come from the inside? The threat from insiders is often overlooked in...
Top Solutions and Tools to Prevent Devastating Malware: Custom malware frequently goes undetected. According to Forrester Research, the best way to reduce risk of breach is to deploy file integrity monitoring...
Streamline Compliance and Increase ROI: Streamline, simplify, and automate compliance related activities; especially those that impact multiple business units. This white paper from NetIQ, outlines solutions that will...
X-Ray of the PCI Process-4 Proactive Steps: This white paper from Forrester Research Inc., helps break PCI into understandable components. Security and risk professionals will gain knowledge and insight into...

Privacy Webcasts

A Road Map for Best Practice Social Media Acceptable Use Policy: Organizations around the world are racing to leverage the power of social media for business. Sites like Facebook are used for marketing, human...
Data Protection and Disaster Recovery with iSCSI and VMware: Get this on demand webcast now
Optimizing Networks for the Cloud: Join guest speaker, Rohit Mehra, IDC Director of Enterprise Communications Infrastructure, to explore current trends, discuss best practices for optimizing Data Center and...
Apps QuickStart Series Part 2: Designing and Deploying SQL Server on VMware vSphere: Download this webcast to learn about the design considerations for virtualizing SQL workloads, performance and scalability information and high-availability options, as well as...
Apps QuickStart Series Part 1: Designing and Deploying Exchange 2010 on VMware vSphere: Download this webcast to learn the virtual hardware design considerations for Exchange 2010, deployment using the building block approach, options for high-availability and...