As Russia’s internet law imposes new obligations on technology and infrastructure companies, the Russian government considers subordinate legislation. By Tim Wybitul, Ulrich Wuermeling, and Ksenia Koroleva On November 1, 2019, the majority of provisions of Russia’s internet law (RuNet Law) entered into force. Its principal purpose is to ensure the independent operation, safety, and security … Continue Reading
UK publishes White Paper with hard-hitting regulatory proposals to tackle online harms. By Alain Traill, Stuart Davis, Andrew Moyle, Deborah Kirk and Gail Crawford On 8 April 2019, the Home Office and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) published an “Online Harms White Paper”, proposing a new compliance and enforcement regime intended to … Continue Reading
By Ulrich Wuermeling On January 10, 2017, the European Commission proposed a new ePrivacy Regulation (Proposal). Compared to the internal draft that was leaked in December, the official Proposal has been substantially modified. However, the general approach taken by the European Commission has not changed. The Proposal includes provisions with a broad scope of application covering … Continue Reading
By Ulrich Wuermeling An internal Commission draft of a new ePrivacy Regulation (Draft) has been leaked to the public. The Commission plans to propose it in early 2017, but the content of the Draft does not seem near a final proposal. It is either older or still needs some time to be finalized. The Draft … Continue Reading
By Gail Crawford and Ulrich Wuermeling On October 19, 2016, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued a ruling on the question of whether IP addresses constitute personal data. The ruling has direct implications on the general question of when data can be regarded as anonymous and, thus, fall outside the scope of data … Continue Reading
By Ksenia Koroleva On July 6, 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed Federal Law No 374-FZ. This law is also known as the “Yarovaya” law (named after a Russian senator who was the main driving force for the law to come into existence). The Yarovaya law introduces amendments to certain Russian federal laws. The majority … Continue Reading
By Gail Crawford and Ulrich Wuermeling As the whole world now knows, the UK voted to leave the European Union (EU) in its historic referendum on 23rd June by a vote of 51.9 percent in favour of “leave” to 48.1 in favour of “remain”. This blog focusses on how that decision will impact both UK … Continue Reading
On July 17th, the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act (DRIPA) came into effect in the United Kingdom reinstating the Government’s powers to require communication providers to retain traffic data (also known as metadata) and enabling the Government to serve warrants to intercept communications data on companies outside of the United Kingdom to the extent … Continue Reading
By Kevin Boyle and Aryeh Richmond Here is a reminder that the Federal Trade Commission’s revisions to its Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule become effective on July 1. If you haven’t already, now is the time to make sure you have revisions to meet the rule in place as FTC and state attorney general inquiries … Continue Reading
Recently Jan Philipp Albrecht, rapporteur for the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) Committee, the lead committee considering the proposed draft General Data Protection Regulation, published the committee’s suggested amendments to the original draft regulation. The reports runs to over 200 pages and contains over 350 separate amendments. Since the original draft regulation was … Continue Reading
By Linda Inscoe and Joseph Farrell On September 27, 2012, California became the third state to enact legislation protecting employees, job applicants, university students and prospective students against coerced disclosure of usernames, passwords and other information related to personal social media accounts, such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter accounts, text messages, private email accounts, blogs … Continue Reading
By Gail Crawford and Amy Taylor It seems somewhat fitting to blog about the USA Patriot Act on this Fourth of July. On the second day of the annual Privacy Laws & Business conference in Cambridge, Peter McLaughlin, senior counsel at Foley & Lardner, took to the floor with the aim of “distinguishing fact and fiction about the scope of the law and … Continue Reading
By Gail Crawford and Amy Taylor Privacy professionals from more than 20 countries are gathered in Cambridge, England, to discuss privacy challenges in today’s world at the 25th annual Privacy Laws & Business conference. Professor Michael Birnhack, Professor of Law at Tel Aviv University and Visiting Associate Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, … Continue Reading
Spokeo Consent Decree Serves as Important Caution to Buyers and Sellers of Social Media Reports on Consumers to Understand and Comply with FCRA By Jennifer Archie, Kevin Boyle and Kelsey McPherson As part of a settlement announced Monday, the FTC sends a reminder that the requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) apply to … Continue Reading
European Union Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding has confirmed that we can expect to see a draft of the eagerly awaited new Data Privacy Directive in January. The new rules are likely to significantly strengthen the rights of individuals. According to a press release issued jointly last week by Reding and Germany’s Federal Minister for Consumer Protection, Isle … Continue Reading
Many employers have adopted policies establishing guidelines for responsible blogging and use by employees of social networking media sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and YouTube. These policies typically require that employees make clear that they are not speaking on behalf of their employer, unless specifically authorized to do so; comply with company policies regarding … Continue Reading
Google has consented to the entry of a proposed Agreement Containing Consent Order with the US Federal Trade Commission, subjecting the company to sweeping government oversight of its privacy disclosure and product development and release practices, nominally arising out of the roll-out of its Buzz product in February 2010. The auditing and reporting requirements are … Continue Reading
It seems fitting that on Data Privacy Day, a day designed to raise awareness of privacy issues (and not, as reported by Wikipedia, an international public holiday), we touch on the issue of “transparency” e.g. how to ensure individuals understand how their data is being processed. The EDPS, in its 14th January Opinion, describes transparency … Continue Reading
One of the newest and most talked about developments outlined by the European Commission (as part of its plans to update the EU’s data privacy regime), is the introduction of a ‘right to be forgotten’ for individuals. The Commission intends for individuals to be given much more control over their personal data, including rights to … Continue Reading
