Three bipartisan Senate bills are up for consideration in Congress that would attempt to modernize the legal standards under which the U.S. government can access communications electronically stored by email service providers and cloud computing companies. The proposed bills, introduced July 27, 2017, each provide a different scheme in updating the Electronic Communications Privacy Act … Continue Reading
This week, it was officially announced that South Korea has become the fifth country to join the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s (APEC) Cross Border Privacy Rules (CBPR) system. This system was developed by APEC in 2011 to “build consumer, business and regulator trust in cross border flows of personal information” and thus facilitate e-commerce among APEC … Continue Reading
As courts continue to grapple with close calls on standing following the U.S. Supreme Court’s seminal decision in Spokeo v. Robins, another court has given defendants a win for intangible injuries and risk of future harm. On June 6, the District of New Jersey dismissed – for the second time – a putative class action … Continue Reading
Michaels escaped a potential class action alleging Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) violations late last month when a federal judge found the United States Supreme Court’s recent decision in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robbins, 136 S. Ct. 1540 (2016) foreclosed the plaintiffs’ claim for a bare statutory violation not resulting in concrete damages. The recent ruling … Continue Reading
Affirming a lower court decision this blog discussed here, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania held January 12 that dismissal of a proposed data breach class action was proper, because the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center lacked a legal duty to protect employee information stolen by a third party. The 2-1 majority’s finding that UPMC had … Continue Reading
On 7 November, the government of the People’s Republic of China passed the much-anticipated Cyber Security Law of China, which will come into force 1 June 2017. After first and second drafts were put out for public consultation in June 2015 and May 2016, respectively, it was a third draft issued in October 2016 that … Continue Reading
In an election season in which it seems Americans cannot agree on much, a new poll shows that data privacy and security reform is a unifying issue. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform (ILR) has released the findings of a poll shedding light on American voters’ perception of the legal landscape for data … Continue Reading
While the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in Spokeo v. Robins, 136 S. Ct. 1540 (2016), has garnered much attention after being cited by numerous courts as a means to dismiss data privacy class actions, defendants should never count out any potential avenues for exiting such a suit; in Pennsylvania (and in many other states … Continue Reading
In a sign of the continuing significance of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Spokeo v. Robins, 136 S. Ct. 1540 (May 24, 2016), another federal court has cited that ruling in dismissing claims for lack of Article III standing. In Gubula v. Time Warner Cable, Inc., No. 15-cv-1078 (E.D. Wis. June 17, 2016), … Continue Reading
After four years of protracted discussions and negotiations, the General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”) gained final approval from the European Parliament 14 April. It will enter into force 20 days after publication in the Official Journal of the European Union (expected imminently), and it comes into force two years after that date – i.e., … Continue Reading
On February 8 and 9, 2016, the French Directorate-General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Prevention of Fraud (the ‘DGCCRF’) and the French Data Protection Authority (the ‘CNIL’), through an obviously concerted action, have publicised regulatory enforcement measures they are undertaking against Facebook. The DGCCRF is requiring Facebook to re-write its Terms and Conditions on the … Continue Reading
On 3 February, the Article 29 Working Party (‘WP29’), a group comprising representatives of the EU Member States’ Data Protection Authorities (‘DPAs’), issued a statement cautiously welcoming the agreement on an “EU-U.S. Privacy Shield”. If it is formally adopted, the Privacy Shield will replace the Safe Harbor agreement that was declared invalid by the EU’s … Continue Reading
An Illinois federal district court recently denied a request by online image publisher Shutterfly, Inc. and its subsidiary, ThisLife Inc., to dismiss a putative class action lawsuit alleging that the companies’ facial recognition-based system of photo-tagging violates the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). That law, which dates to 2008, prohibits companies from collecting and … Continue Reading
In a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (“ECHR”) handed down in July 2015, the right to respect for individuals’ privacy balance trumped journalists’ right to freedom of expression. In the case of Satakunnan Markkinapörssi and Satamedia v. the Republic of Finland, it was decided that Finnish magazine, Veröporssi (“V”), could be prevented … Continue Reading
In a favorable decision for defendants in data breach litigation, the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County held that the economic loss doctrine prevented the negligence claim of a group of former and current UPMC employees from going forward in their suit arising out of the theft of information from UPMC’s computer systems. … Continue Reading
On February 11, Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) announced that they would introduce legislation intended to address the data privacy and security vulnerabilities with Internet-connected cars. The legislation, if passed, would require manufacturers to adhere to a number of security and privacy standards, including the following: Requirement that all wireless access points … Continue Reading
Clark County Nevada District Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez is considering further sanction against Sands China Ltd. for redacting “personal information” from about 2,600 documents the company produced in 2013 as part of an ongoing wrongful termination suit first filed in 2010 by Steven Jacobs, the former president of Sands Macau. Jacobs alleges that he was wrongfully … Continue Reading
The Russian Duma recently set a new deadline for companies to localise their data processing of Russian citizens on Russian soil, while the data protection authority published an order removing Hong Kong and Switzerland from its ‘adequate privacy protection list’. The Russian Duma has voted through, on a first reading, an accelerated effective date for … Continue Reading
The Hong Kong Privacy Commissioner of Personal Data (the “Commissioner”) ended 2014 with a special interest in mobile applications (“apps”). In a media statement published 15 December 2014, the Commissioner reported that versions 4.3 and earlier of Google’s Android operating system contained a flaw that allowed others to read shared memory in mobile devices without … Continue Reading
On 18 August, the Direct Marketing Association (‘DMA’) issued its new Privacy Code of Practice (‘Code’) to address customer concerns about data privacy. The Code is a result of an 18-month consultation with the Information Commissioner’s Office, the Department for Culture, Media & Sport and Ofcom. The Code focuses on five key principles: Put your … Continue Reading
In July, the EU introduced new technical standards (‘Standards’) to assist users of Radio Frequency Identification (‘RFID’) technology to comply with the EU Data Protection regime and the Commission’s 2009 recommendation on RFID. The Standards are the result of a long-term EU project which began with a public consultation in 2006. When RFID technology is … Continue Reading
In June, the Article 29 Working Party (‘Working Party’) wrote to the President of the European Commission, setting out its case for including a reference to Binding Corporate Rules for data processors (‘BCR-P’) in the forthcoming Data Protection Regulation. Binding Corporate Rules are one way in which data controllers or data processors in Europe can … Continue Reading
The practice of employers forcing employees or applicants to exercise subject access rights has been described by the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (‘ICO’) as a “clear perversion of an individual’s own rights”. It is now set to become a thing of the past in the UK and Ireland, as both jurisdictions bring laws into effect … Continue Reading
President Putin recently signed Federal Law No. 242-FZ (the “Law”) which amends Russia’s 2006 data protection statute and primary data security law (Laws 152-FZ and 149-FZ), to require domestic data storage of Russian citizens’ personal data. The Law will allow the websites that do not comply to be blocked from operating in Russia and recorded … Continue Reading
