James A. Sherer

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AI Regulation and Soft Law Considerations Across the Uncanny Valley

By James A. Sherer and Ariana Dindiyal on September 27, 2022 Posted in AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to the recognition or creation of patterns that simulate human actions or thought. Since the late 1970s, when people began regularly interacting with computers, AI has become increasingly prevalent, and uses of AI technology continue to create greater opportunities for interaction with human norms — those rules that define acceptable behavior. … Continue Reading

Pairing Real-World™ Problems with Realistic Solutions – a Push for Practical Information Governance

By James A. Sherer and Adam Cohen on June 18, 2021 Posted in Information Governance

For those attorneys and information governance practitioners unfamiliar with recent pedagogic advancements, “real-world problem solving” moves teaching approaches away from the classical model that assumes individuals will operate logically and in self-interested ways to a more realistic view. The more realistic view then acknowledges the powers of wishful thinking, uneven knowledge across populations, and the … Continue Reading

The Not-So-Hidden FTC Guidance on Organizational Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), from Data Gathering Through Model Audits

By James A. Sherer, Nichole Sterling and Stanton Burke on May 24, 2021 Posted in AI

Our last AI post on this blog, the New (if Decidedly Not ‘Final’) Frontier of Artificial Intelligence Regulation, touched on both the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) April 19, 2021, AI guidance and the European Commission’s proposed AI Regulation. The FTC’s 2021 guidance referenced, in large part, the FTC’s April 2020 post “Using Artificial Intelligence and … Continue Reading

The New (if Decidedly Not ‘Final’) Frontier of Artificial Intelligence Regulation

By James A. Sherer, Chad Rutkowski, Stanton Burke and Nichole Sterling on April 27, 2021 Posted in AI

The week of April 19 was an eventful one for practitioners following the evolution of potential artificial intelligence (AI) enforcement both in the United States and abroad, answering some questions regarding which regulators were going to take a more active and prospective role in regulating and advising on AI use and what those roles might look … Continue Reading

Employee Training and Record-Keeping Requirements in the Final CCPA Regulations and a Preview of New Retention Requirements in the CPRA

By Nichole Sterling and James A. Sherer on September 15, 2020 Posted in CCPA

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) does not in itself outline specific employee training or record-keeping requirements that demonstrate business compliance with the law. However, the California attorney general’s final CCPA Regulations, intended to guide the application of the CCPA, detail that specific types of employee training and record-keeping are required for CCPA compliance. Specifically, … Continue Reading

Advancing Digital Strategies (and Hello from the Future!)

By James A. Sherer and Katherine Lowry on February 28, 2020 Posted in Blockchain, Emerging Technology, Internet of Things

The following story is one in a six-part series devoted to the pioneering teams that comprise the firm’s new Digital Asset and Data Management Practice Group. A prime example of BakerHostetler’s preeminence in the legal industry is on display in its latest Practice Group, Digital Asset and Data Management (DADM), which offers holistic, enterprise-wide risk solutions to … Continue Reading

Record-Keeping and Training Requirements in the Proposed Regulations for the CCPA

By Nichole Sterling and James A. Sherer on November 26, 2019 Posted in CCPA

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), California Civil Code §1798.100 and following, does not in itself outline specific training and record-keeping requirements that demonstrate business compliance with consumer requests. However, in October 2019, the California attorney general proposed additional CCPA Regulations intended to guide the application of the CCPA, and Section 999.317 of the proposed … Continue Reading

Deeper Dive: Ransomware – WannaCry and the Future of Ransomware-as-a-Service

By Melinda L. McLellan and James A. Sherer on May 22, 2017 Posted in Cybersecurity, Data Breaches, Incident Response, Ransomware

In our 2017 BakerHostetler Data Security Incident Response Report, we addressed the increasingly ubiquitous scourge of ransomware, one of the fastest-growing types of malware causing data security incidents. We noted that ransomware attacks have been steadily expanding in both frequency and severity, and that those trends seemed set to continue for the foreseeable future. Less than a … Continue Reading

Deeper Dive: Security Incident Notification Under the New EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

By Melinda L. McLellan, James A. Sherer and Emily R. Fedeles on May 5, 2017 Posted in Cybersecurity, Data Breaches, Enforcement, International Privacy Law

As noted in the 2017 BakerHostetler Data Security Incident Response Report, the enactment of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) represents the most significant change in European data protection law in more than 20 years. Coming into effect on May 25, 2018, the GDPR focuses on a number of core data protection principles and … Continue Reading

EU High Court Invalidates Safe Harbor Framework for Cross-Border Data Transfers

By Melinda L. McLellan and James A. Sherer on October 7, 2015 Posted in Enforcement, International Privacy Law

On October 6, 2015, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued a highly anticipated judgment that has the potential to impact how thousands of companies transfer data from the EU to the United States. The Court’s decision effectively invalidates the European Commission’s “adequacy” determination with respect to the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework, … Continue Reading

Federal Trade Commission Joins with Industry Experts to Provide Start-Ups and Developers with Practical Advice at “Start with Security” Conference

By James A. Sherer on August 24, 2015 Posted in Enforcement

The FTC has a history of offering practical advice to organizations and consumers to protect against security threats and related concerns, and is continuing this practice with the upcoming – and very first – “Start with Security” conference, taking place at the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law on September 9, 2015. The … Continue Reading

Social Media’s Not For You—It’s About You: Risks for Organizations in a New Age of Sharing

By James A. Sherer and Melinda L. McLellan on April 20, 2015 Posted in Data Breaches, Information Governance, International Privacy Law, Mobile Privacy, Privacy Litigation, Social Media, Workplace Privacy

Social media and social networking, including websites and applications that allow users to create and share content, have become ubiquitous. Joining the social networking revolution may be very easy for individuals, but establishing best practices for organizations that want or need to be actively engaged with social media is not. Initial considerations tend to focus … Continue Reading

Bring Your Own Device (Everywhere): Legal and Practical Considerations for International BYOD Programs

By Melinda L. McLellan and James A. Sherer on March 30, 2015 Posted in Information Governance, International Privacy Law, Mobile Privacy, Privacy Litigation, Workplace Privacy

The cross-use of mobile devices for personal and professional purposes, commonly referred to as “Bring Your Own Device” or “BYOD”, is a relatively recent phenomenon that has created a host of legal and practical challenges for organizations of all sizes. Implementing a BYOD program is especially complex for companies that have employees who regularly travel … Continue Reading

2014 Information Governance Year in Review

By Judy Selby, James A. Sherer and Benjamin Barnes on December 19, 2014 Posted in Information Governance

2014 has been perhaps the biggest year Information Governance (“IG”) has seen. A relatively small and, if not unknown, at least undefined field only a few years ago has grown into an area of interest—and concern—to many organizations. The continued growth of data, the escalating threat of data breaches, the amazing ability to collect and … Continue Reading

Big Data Changes the Deal: Information Governance Should Now Be Incorporated Into Due Diligence for Corporate Transactions

By Judy Selby and James A. Sherer on November 7, 2014 Posted in Big Data, Cybersecurity

Editor’s Note: We recently launched a graphic illustrating our Cyber Risk Mitigation Services. This week, our attorneys will be writing about specific examples of those services. The past few years have witnessed the unprecedented rise of Big Data. Fully 90 percent of today’s data was created over just the past two years. Businesses now double the … Continue Reading

Are you—or someone you love—a content hoarder?

By Judy Selby and James A. Sherer on September 18, 2014 Posted in Information Governance

Hoarding is defined clinically as embodying “a persistent difficulty discarding or parting with possessions because of a perceived need to save them.” That accumulation occurs regardless of the actual value associated with the possessions, and often stands in stark contrast to what an outsider or “normal” person’s perception. The idea of accumulating vast quantities of … Continue Reading

What? The Rules Committee Hearings Don’t Have A Hashtag?

By Karin Scholz Jenson, James A. Sherer and Jonathan A. Forman on February 7, 2014 Posted in Information Governance

This post is a joint submission with BakerHostetler Discovery Advocate blog. On a snowy Sixth Avenue this week, thousands of people packed the New York Hilton Midtown for the sensory overload that is LegalTech New York (#LTNY), the annual E-Discovery, privacy, and information governance bash. And today, just hours after the massive conference closed, the E-Discovery … Continue Reading

Information Governance – The importance of putting your data house in order

By Judy Selby and James A. Sherer on February 5, 2014 Posted in Information Security

This blog post is a joint submission with BakerHostetler’s Discovery Advocate blog. Information is the lifeblood of businesses today. As the volume of data continues to grow exponentially, intelligent governance of information is essential for enterprises to survive and thrive. Data security concerns, privacy, compliance requirements and the costs of ediscovery all militate toward implementation … Continue Reading