On January 4, 2017, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”) published the final version of NIST IR 8062 “An Introduction to Privacy Engineering and Risk management in Federal Systems.” The report introduces the concept of applying systems engineering practices to privacy and provides a new model for conducting privacy risk assessments on systems. … Continue Reading
With the onslaught of smart watches, smart thermostats, and even smart refrigerators that allow you to Tweet hangry messages to your followers, it’s only natural that a “smart city” would follow. This week, San Francisco city officials agreed to run a one-year pilot project with Sigfox – an FCC certified French start-up that builds low-power … Continue Reading
By Paul Bond, Lisa B. Kim and Christine Nielsen Czuprynski on Posted in In the Courts
The proposed settlement agreement in the Target data breach consumer litigation that we reported on on March 19, 2015 has been approved by the judge, and a final approval hearing set for November 10, 2015. Based on this order, class members should start to receive notice of the settlement within 45 days of yesterday’s order.… Continue Reading
By Paul Bond, Christine Nielsen Czuprynski and Lisa B. Kim on Posted in In the Courts
A proposed settlement has been reached in the multi-district consumer litigation Target faces following a data breach that compromised at least 40 million credit cards during the 2013 holiday shopping season. The settlement, which requires Target to pay $10 million into a settlement fund and adopt specific data security measures, still needs court approval. If … Continue Reading
In September 2014 we reported on the UK’s intention to stamp out a practice commonly known as “enforced subject access requests”. This concerned the previously dormant section 56 of the UK Data Protection Act 1998 (‘DPA’), which, following an announcement from the Ministry of Justice, was implemented on March 10, 2015. Under this section, it … Continue Reading
The federal government may be pushing a cybersecurity and data privacy agenda, but that doesn’t mean that the states are taking a back seat. The state attorneys general are maintaining their focus on issues relating to privacy and data security and expanding the scope of that focus to address the ever-evolving nature of those issues. … Continue Reading
It is foreseeable that not many of Facebook’s millions of users every day have ever had a look at the social network’s Terms & Conditions. Only the readers of the fine print may know that these Terms & Conditions provide that any claim related to Facebook must be resolved exclusively in the United States District … Continue Reading
In February 2015, Ofgem (the UK’s Office of Gas and Electricity Markets) published its Decision on Extending the Smart Meter Framework to Remote Meters (the Decision). This confirms that, following a public consultation, the privacy requirements embedded in the supplier licence terms and which will apply to suppliers’ use of customer data from “smart meters” … Continue Reading
The Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards Council has released a bulletin on impending revisions to version 3.0 Payment Application Data Security Standards (PA-DSS) and version 3.0 of the PCI Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS), which we reported on in January 2014. To ensure the continued protection of consumers’ payment data, the PCI Security Standards Council … Continue Reading
The UK Information Commissioner’s Officer (the “ICO”), in a letter to Global Witness (in Steinmetz and others v Global Witness) (the “Letter”), stated that non-media organisations may rely on the special-purposes exemption for journalism in s32 of the Data Protection Act 1998 (the “DPA”), to withhold personal data in response to Data Subject Access Requests. … Continue Reading
On 3 February, the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party published its ‘Cookie Sweep Combined Analysis – Report’. The sweep was undertaken by the WP29 in partnership with eight of the European data protection regulators, including the UK’s ICO, France’s CNIL and Spain’s AEPD, in order to assess the current steps taken by website operators … Continue Reading
In December 2014, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) released the“Big Data Guidelines for Data Protection” (Guidelines). Aimed at Information and Communications Service Providers (ICSPs), they are designed to prevent the misuse of “publicly available information” to create and exploit new information. The Guidelines expressly permit ICSPs to collect and use “publicly available information”, within certain … Continue Reading
In January, China’s State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) released its ‘Measures on Penalties for Infringing Upon the Rights and Interests of Consumers’ (Measures) which are due to take effect March 15, 2015. These Measures flesh out China’s Consumer Rights Protection Law (CRPL) which was amended in March 2014 and provides guidance as to … Continue Reading
The EU Article 29 Working Party (“WP29”) has published a letter to the European Commission (“EC”) on the scope of health data in relation to lifestyle and well-being apps, following the EC’s Working Document on mHealth and the outcome of its public consultation, which generated interest in strong privacy and security tools, and strengthened enforcement … Continue Reading
On 30 January 2015, Google signed an Undertaking with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to improve and amend the Privacy Policy it adopted 1 March 2012. Among other things, the modifications to the Privacy Policy allowed Google to combine personal data across all services and products. For example, personal data collected through YouTube could now … Continue Reading
In recent years, the number of African countries which have enacted privacy frameworks or are planning data protection laws has vastly increased. Currently, 14 African countries have privacy framework laws and some sort of data protection authorities in place. Once the African Union Convention on Cyber Security and Personal data Protection (Convention) is ratified across … Continue Reading
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has long been studying the promise and perils of small unmanned aircraft systems (“UAS”), a.k.a. drones. The commercial potential of UAS technology is clear. Businesses are eager to use UAS to do everything from covering traffic accidents to taking real estate and wedding photos to delivering small parcels. However, the … Continue Reading
In January, Ofcom, the UK telecommunications regulator, published its Statement on ‘Promoting investment and innovation in the Internet of Things’ (Statement). The Statement acknowledges that the Internet of Things (IoT) has the potential to deliver significant benefits to citizens and consumers. In light of this, Ofcom sought views from its stakeholders on what role Ofcom … Continue Reading
At the Data Protection Conference in Berlin, the Berlin and Hamburg Data Protection Commissioners (Commissioners) made a number of important announcements regarding the ‘inadequacy’ of the EU/U.S. Safe Harbor Program. Both Dr. Alexander Dix and Prof. Johannes Caspar, Commissioners for Berlin and Hamburg respectively, asserted that U.S. companies do not protect data to the same … 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
The Information Society Code (2014/917) (Code) – a new act in Finland on electronic communications, privacy, data security, communications, and the information society in general – took effect 1 January. This sees a consolidation of 10 existing acts into one, which had included Finland’s Communications Market Act; Act on the Protection of Privacy in Electronic … 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
On 19 January 2015, the Australian data protection authority, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), released an updated information security guide: ‘Guide to securing personal information.’ The Guide aims to help organisations meet their data security obligations under the Australian Privacy Principles (APPS) that provide the framework for Australia’s Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy … Continue Reading
