In November, the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party (Working Party) released guidelines as to how the Data Protection Authorities (DPAs) assembled in the Working Party intend to implement the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the case of Google Spain SL and Google Inc. v Agencia Española de
UK High Court considers implications of the Google Spain case for the first time
By Cynthia O’Donoghue & Kate Brimsted on
In July 2014, the High Court (the ‘Court’) considered for the first time the implications of the landmark decision in Google Spain, when delivering an interim judgment in the case of Hegglin v Persons Unknown [2014] EWHC 2808 (the ‘Judgment’).
Mr Hegglin (the ‘Claimant’), a businessman who lived in London but now resides in…
Google Exposed as in Breach of Dutch Data Protection Law
By Cynthia O’Donoghue on
The Dutch data protection authority, the College Bescherming Persoonsgegevens (CBP), has released a report following a seven-month investigation examining Google’s changes to its privacy policy. CBP’s report condemns Google for violating Dutch data protection law, the Wet bescherming persoonsgegevens (Wbp).
Controversially in March 2012, Google made changes to its privacy policy (GPP2012) to allow the…
Maximum administrative fine issued by the CNIL against Google: More to come?
By Daniel Kadar on
After almost two years of back and forth with Google, the French CNIL has, similarly to the Spanish Data Protection authority (€900,000 fine), sanctioned Google with a €150,000 fine, as Google refused to review its integrated platform and to modify its privacy policy as requested by the Working Party 29.
In addition to this fine,…
Court Ruling Reinforces The ‘Right To Be Forgotten’ On Social Media Sites
This post was written by Cynthia O’Donoghue.
The "right to be forgotten" is a hot topic of discussion in the context of imminent EU Data Protection Reform. Article 17 of the new EU General Data Protection Regulation will give data subjects the “right of erasure” to request that data controllers delete any personal data…
Google refuses to submit itself to the scrutiny of English courts
This post was written by Cynthia O’Donoghue.
An action against the California-based Internet giant, Google, was recently brought in the English courts. The individuals, supported by the campaign group known as Safari Users Against Google’s Secret Tracking, claim that the search engine provider bypassed the security settings on their Apple iPhones and Mac…
Google Inc. Fined for Street View by Hamburg DPA – There is More to the Street than Meets the Eye
By Katharina A. Weimer on
According to a press release Monday, the Hamburg Officer for Data Protection and Freedom of Information issued a fine in the amount of €145,000 against Google Inc. for illegal recording of information from Wi-Fi networks.
While Google’s cars roamed the streets in Germany during the years 2008-2010, they not only took pictures of houses and…
CNIL vs. Google, Act V: Six Data Protection Authorities led by the French CNIL are now starting action in order to penalize Google
By Daniel Kadar on
Pursuant to their common decision 26 February 2013 to engage action in order to penalize Google Inc. for refusing to revise its global privacy policy, six of the European Working Party 29 regulators, led by the French CNIL, have now jointly started to act in their respective jurisdictions and according to their national laws against…
Italian Court Acquits Google Executives
By Cynthia O’Donoghue on
Three senior Google executives, given six month suspended jail sentences in Italy in 2010 for data protection breaches relating to the content of a video post by a user in 2006, have been acquitted by an appellate court in Milan.
The Google executives, including Google’s chief privacy officer, were convicted following a trial which related…
FTC Releases Statement about Approval of FTC’s Consent Decree with Google
By Douglas J. Wood on
This post was also written by Frederick H. Lah.
Last week, the U.S. District Court approved the $22.5 million civil penalty against Google for violating a consent order. Yesterday, FTC Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection David Vladeck released a statement about the Court’s approval, calling the consent order “a clear victory for consumers…