The findings from the recent Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf decision Mobiles Kommunikationssystem have established a new framework that should be followed when courts are benchmarking standard-essential patents (SEP) licence offers. The court has commented on which requirements are to be placed on the infringement notice, the licence request and the licence offer and how … Continue Reading
On 28 February 2018, Andrus Ansip, the European Commission (Commission) Vice President and commissioner responsible for the Digital Single Market strategy, commented that all companies should be able to monetise user data, in the same way that social media companies do. Mr Ansip’s comments reflect the aims of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to … Continue Reading
The UK government has published its response to a public consultation on the EU Directive on security networks and information systems (NIS Directive) that opened in August last year. The response sets out the UK’s vision for improving the security of the UK’s essential services by implementing the NIS Directive. The NIS Directive The NIS … Continue Reading
Earlier this year the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport published its new Digital Charter. This short document outlines a UK rolling programme of work designed to make the UK a friendly environment to start-up and grow digital businesses. It is also designed to make the UK a safe place to be online. … Continue Reading
In February, we reported that South Dakota and Alabama were the last two U.S. states without data breach notification laws. Since then, both states have enacted data breach laws. South Dakota governor Dennis Daugaard signed South Dakota Bill No. 62 into law on March 21, making it the 49th state to pass a data breach … Continue Reading
Check out this month’s edition of The Privacy Advisor, a publication of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), for Divonne Smoyer and Kimberly Chow’s Q&A with Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill. AG Hill has prioritized rolling back federal overreach and safeguarding consumers from fraud and scams, along with continuing to take a hard line … Continue Reading
The EU Commission continues to show its support and investment in new technologies in the digital economy. On February 1, 2018, the Commission and the European Parliament launched the EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum, and earlier this month, the Commission also unveiled its FinTech Action Plan. The Blockchain Observatory The observatory is designed to be … Continue Reading
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is leading a coalition of 32 attorneys general (Agreements) in opposition to federal preemption in the area of data breaches, identity theft, and data security. Specifically, the group wrote a bipartisan letter on March 19, 2018, to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services and the Subcommittee on … Continue Reading
During an Article 29 Working Party (WP29) press conference on 7 February 2018, the outgoing chair and French privacy chief, Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, expressed concerns that EU data protection authorities (DPAs) may not be able to enforce the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) effectively and in a unified manner in accordance with the consistency mechanism, by … Continue Reading
On February 26, 2018, an en banc federal appeals court held that the common carrier exception in the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act that preempts FTC jurisdiction is “activity-based” rather than “status-based” and therefore applies only to the extent an entity engages in common-carrier services. See FTC v. AT&T Mobility LLC, No. 15-16585, D.C. No. … Continue Reading
According to a press release dated 26 February 2018, the Administrative Court of Appeal Munster (Oberverwaltungsgericht Münster) asked the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary ruling on the question whether Over-the-Top (OTT) services shall be caught by the European regulatory framework on telecommunications services. Background By way of administrative orders, the German Federal Network … Continue Reading
The International Association of Privacy Professionals and Reed Smith’s Washington, D.C. office co-hosted the Association’s KnowledgeNet Chapter meeting, “Key Federal and State Regulatory and Enforcement Trends in Privacy to Watch in 2018 – Direct from the Regulators” on February 27, 2018. Reed Smith partner Divonne Smoyer moderated a panel discussion featuring Utah Attorney General Sean … Continue Reading
Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) unanimously adopted new cybersecurity guidance aimed at assisting public companies in their preparation of cybersecurity risk and incident disclosures. In its new Statement and Interpretive Guidance on Public Company Cybersecurity Disclosures, the SEC is aiming to apply lessons learned from the many major data security incidents that … Continue Reading
With less than three months until the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/279 (GDPR) comes into effect on 25 May 2018, the Article 29 Working Party (WP29) published revised guidelines on personal data breach notification (Guidelines). You may well remember our recent blog covering the Guidelines when the WP29 issued its initial guidance on 3 October … Continue Reading
There are currently only two U.S. states that do not have a state data breach notification law: South Dakota and Alabama. Recently, South Dakota took a big step toward approving a data breach notification law. On January 25, 2018, the state’s Senate Attorney Judiciary Committee advanced the bill after a 7–0 vote, sending it to … Continue Reading
Massachusetts Attorney General (AG) Maura Healey has announced that the state will offer an online portal where businesses can more easily report that they have experienced a data breach. Massachusetts will also offer consumers an electronic database to view reported breaches, similar to the online repositories operated by California, Maryland and other states. Affected companies … Continue Reading
Check out this month’s edition of The Privacy Advisor, a publication of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), for Divonne Smoyer and Kimberly Chow’s Q&A with Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes. AG Reyes is well known as a bipartisan thought leader among AGs on the issues of privacy and cybersecurity. In the interview, he … Continue Reading
In a recently published “Staff Perspective,” the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) appears to be staying true to the regulatory humility approach Acting Chairman Maureen K. Ohlhausen underscored in her opening remarks to the connected cars and autonomous vehicles workshop the FTC co-hosted with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) last summer. The Consumer Protection … Continue Reading
As Bitcoin’s (BTC) popularity continues to grow, its network built on 1MB blocks struggles to keep up with the growing number of transactions. Two groups within the Bitcoin community, the “Big Blockers” and “Decentralists,” disagree on how to address the blocksize issue. Big Blockers are focused on realizing Bitcoin’s potential to serve as a cash … Continue Reading
On 3 November 2017, the German regulator for the financial sector, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (“BaFin”), published a new circular titled Rundschreiben 10/2017 (BA) vom 3. November 2017 – Bankaufsichtliche Anforderungen an die IT (in English: Circular 10/2017 – Regulatory Requirements for IT-Systems – “BAIT”). The BAIT is available in German language at the BaFin’s website. The … Continue Reading
Check out this month’s edition of The Privacy Advisor, a publication of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), for Divonne Smoyer and Kimberly Chow’s Q&A with Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel. AG Schimel has prioritized cybercrime enforcement and prevention for the state. In the interview, he discusses his data privacy and security agenda as … Continue Reading
On October 18, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB” or “Bureau”) entered into the long simmering debate over consumer-authorized data sharing. This debate pits mainstream financial institutions, which are typically reticent to share customer data with third parties, against data aggregators and other fintechs. Those newer companies provide services directly to consumers—or to enhance the … Continue Reading
On October 19, President Trump formally announced his nomination of Joseph Simons to serve as Federal Trade Commission Chair for a seven-year term. Simons would assume the chairmanship of the agency in lieu of Acting Chair Maureen Ohlhausen, who took the position last January and is expected to remain with the Commission until the expiration … Continue Reading
Addressing the detection of and removal of illegal content from online platforms represents an urgent challenge for the digital society today. However, so far, there is no harmonised and coherent approach across the European Union. On 28 September 2017, the European Commission (“Commission”) published a communication titled „Tackling Illegal Content Online – Towards an enhanced … Continue Reading
