Following a recent Supreme Court holding that the Privacy Act "does not unequivocally authorize" compensatory damages for emotional or mental distress, the Electronic Privacy Information Center has proposed changes to the act that would compensate individuals who can prove such harm. Though dissenting justices in FAA v. Cooper wrote in their opinion that "the primary, and often only, damages sustained as a result of an invasion of privacy are...mental or emotional distress," plaintiffs generally have "a very difficult time proving harm in the data loss of theft cases," opines Andrew Serwin of Foley & Lardner in The Privacy Advisor.
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