Responding to a Subpoena: A Privacy Practitioner's Guide

IAPP to Offer Privacy Pros a Step-By-Step Plan for Responding to
Subpoenas in Civil and Criminal Cases


YORK, ME -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 02/20/06 -- The IAPP announced today a
new panel for the IAPP National Summit 2006 to help privacy pros
prepare for, and respond to, the arrival of a subpoena seeking access
to sensitive customer information in a civil or criminal case.


The session will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on March 9 at
the IAPP National Summit 2006 in Washington, D.C.


Jim Koenig, Co-Leader of the Privacy Practice of Pricewaterhouse
Coopers, will moderate the panel. Lee Tien, senior staff attorney for
the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Benjamin Vernia, special
counsel, Covington & Burling, are the panel's participants.


"The Justice Department's subpoenas should be a wake-up call to
Internet users that portals and search engines know and keep track of
what you search for on the Internet, and often won't go to court to
protect that personal information from being turned over to the
government," Tien said. "The easiest defense against this snooping is
to dump that data, because the government can't get what you don't
have."


The panel participants will offer practical guidance on how to handle
the delicate aspects of responding to legal requests for information.
Given the privacy impacts on a company's reputation for granting
access to personal information, this timely session will help to
eliminate the guesswork and trepidation for privacy pros who dread the
day when that inevitable subpoena hits.


"In the past 20 years, we have witnessed dramatic increases both in
the number and kinds of subpoenas available to the government and
private parties, and in the amounts, sensitivity and distribution of
data susceptible to discovery," Vernia said. "Litigants, subjects and
targets of investigations and third-party holders of information are
frequently confronted with complex legal decisions when they receive a
subpoena, particularly because the subpoena is an ancient
investigative tool not well suited to the age of the Internet. Knowing
the principal features of subpoenas, and a subpoena recipient's rights
and obligations, will take some of the fear out of hearing the
subpoena-server's knock at the door."


The issue has gained wide attention recently after Google decided to
fight the US Justice Department, which was seeking access to Google's
search records. The responses of other companies in similar
circumstances and the fallout afterward have been scrutinized as this
privacy dilemma unfolded in recent weeks.


This new session has been added to what already is the largest and
most anticipated privacy conference. The top privacy and security
industry leaders and public policymakers will gather to for in-depth
sessions on a broad range of topics, including the US and global
legislative response to data security, digital rights management and
the pros and cons of federal privacy legislation.



What: IAPP National Summit 2006

When: March 8-10, 2006

Where: Omni Shoreham Hotel

2500 Calvert St., NW

Washington, D.C. 20008



Media wishing to cover the Summit should send a request to
ann.donlan@privacyassociation.org. For more information or to register
for the Summit, visit www.privacyassociation.org.


ABOUT THE IAPP


The International Association of Privacy Professionals is the world's
largest association of privacy professionals with more than 2,000
members globally. The IAPP helps define and support the privacy
profession through networking, education and certification. For more
information on the IAPP, visit https://www.privacyassociation.org/.