Late last week, the California legislature approved five bills intended to clarify the scope and required compliance obligations of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA or the Act). Organizations now have just over three months to determine whether they need to comply with the newly amended CCPA, assess what their obligations are, and implement the … Continue Reading
In its response dated 3 July 2019 (Response; file no. 19/11351, available in German here) to an inquiry by members of the German parliament (Inquiry), the German government took stand on the current draft Regulation on Privacy and Electronic Communications (ePrivacy Regulation), and particularly on “tracking”. The German government summarises its assessment of the ePrivacy … Continue Reading
Many states are following in the footsteps of Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), a law that has led to an increase in the volume of class action privacy litigation and highlighted the importance of enterprise-level management of biometric data (e.g., fingerprint, voiceprint, and retina, facial, or iris image). Organizations that collect and use biometric … Continue Reading
The UK’s new prime minister, Boris Johnson, has vowed that the UK will leave the EU on October 31, 2019. A unilateral (or “hard”) Brexit poses many privacy and data protection challenges for companies that operate in the UK. Post-Brexit privacy and data protection issues that you need to consider include: how to maintain uninterrupted … Continue Reading
On July 25, 2019, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law the Stop Hacks and Improve Electronic Data Security (SHIELD) Act (S.5575B/A.5635), which significantly increases obligations for businesses handling private data to notify affected consumers upon experiencing a security breach. Additionally, Governor Cuomo signed the Identity Theft Prevention and Mitigating Services Act (A.2374/S.3582), requiring … Continue Reading
The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) recent $5 billion settlement with Facebook is unprecedented in multiple respects: The $5 billion penalty represents the largest privacy and data security settlement in history – it is almost 20 times larger than the recent Equifax Inc. settlement and dwarfs recent EU data protection enforcement actions. As part of the … Continue Reading
The recently announced multistate settlement between credit reporting company Equifax Inc. and the Attorneys General of 48 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia (the AGs) demonstrates the increasingly active role of state regulators in policing the privacy and security practices of businesses that handle consumers’ personal information. The multistate settlement is part of … Continue Reading
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce (the “Chamber”) recently hosted a data privacy summit, “#DataDoneRight”, which brought together a group of industry professionals, government stakeholders, and privacy thought leaders to talk about data privacy. The Chamber, which has proposed federal privacy legislation, engaged a wide variety of speakers, covering multiple viewpoints, to demonstrate the need for … Continue Reading
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce last week gathered a diverse, bipartisan group of policymakers, regulators, industry representatives and thought leaders to discuss all things data privacy at #DataDoneRight, its 2019 privacy summit. Topics included the California Consumer Privacy Act, the possibility of federal privacy legislation and working with privacy regulators, and the summit featured a … Continue Reading
As states’ “top cops,” one of the primary responsibilities of state attorneys general (AGs) is consumer protection, and more and more AGs are focusing on how to protect consumer data privacy. Discussions at the recent Conference of Western Attorneys General (“CWAG”) Annual Meeting in Santa Barbara reflect this focus and demonstrate that state enforcers are … Continue Reading
May was a busy month for state privacy law updates and amendments. In addition to amendments made by Texas to its breach notification law, both Oregon and Nevada expanded their privacy-related laws this month, while Illinois’s CCPA-like law failed to pass after a variety of amendments related to whether the law would allow for a … Continue Reading
On May 21, 2019, representatives of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Office of DC Attorney General (AG) Karl Racine visited Reed Smith to discuss data privacy trends to watch at the federal and state level. In an IAPP KnowledgeNet presentation moderated by Reed Smith partner Divonne Smoyer, Maneesha Mithal (associate director of the … Continue Reading
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released a fact sheet clarifying violations of HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) for which a business associate can be held directly liable. The fact sheet outlines 10 specific circumstances for which OCR has authority to take enforcement … Continue Reading
On May 22, 2019, Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Commission introduced three new initiatives: a) A public consultation on data portability. The corresponding consultation paper also proposes to introduce data innovation provisions as part of the ongoing review of the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA). The consultation is open for six weeks and will close on … Continue Reading
Last week, the California Assembly’s Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection, which exercises jurisdiction over privacy and personal information protection matters, approved several amendment bills intended to clarify and narrow the scope of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA or the Act). In January 2020, the CCPA will impose landmark burdens and obligations on businesses … Continue Reading
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) filed a Notice of Enforcement Decision (the “Notice of Enforcement”) on April 26, 2019, confirming the agency’s reconsideration of its prior interpretation of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act’s (the “HITECH Act’s”) penalty structure. Effective immediately, the maximum penalty that the HHS … Continue Reading
On 3 April 2019, the Conference of German Data Protection Authorities (‘German DPAs’) published a resolution on the interpretation of “certain areas of scientific research” in Recital 33 of the GDPR and the concept of ‘broad consent’ (‘Resolution’). According to Recital 33 of the GDPR, it “is often not possible to fully identify the purpose … Continue Reading
The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) met for its ninth plenary session on 9 and 10 April 2019. The EDPB discussed a number of issues concerning the application of the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR), outlined in the agenda. One of the key developments was the adoption of draft guidelines by the EDPB on … Continue Reading
On 23 April 2019, Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Commission (commission) issued two separate grounds of decision against PAP Community Foundation and Tutor City. In both cases, the commission issued warnings to the organisations for breaching the protection obligation under section 24 of the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), but no financial penalty was imposed. PAP … Continue Reading
The Polish Data Protection Authority (UODO) imposed its first fine for a violation of the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR). Bisnode, a data aggregation company headquartered in Sweden, was fined just under PLN 1 million (around EUR 220,000). The decision found that Bisnode had failed in its duties to inform data subjects how it … Continue Reading
On February 26, 2019, the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Bureau of Competition announced a new Technology Task Force, which will monitor anticompetitive conduct in U.S. technology markets “to ensure consumers benefit from free and fair competition.” With the consumer protection agency already a chief arbiter of privacy enforcement in the tech sector, the new task … Continue Reading
On 26 February 2019, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), Giovanni Buttarelli, published his first annual report since the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force last year. This is a short overview of some of the key themes in the EDPS’s annual report: Overview of 2018: GDPR: This is the first annual report of … Continue Reading
On 11 March 2019, the Personal Data Protection Commission of Singapore (PDPC) issued a set of advisory guidelines for management corporations of strata title plans (MCSTs), which were developed in consultation with Singapore’s Building and Construction Authority. The guidelines provide guidance to MCSTs on complying with Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), and some key … Continue Reading
BREAKING: California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (AG) announced a proposed series of amendments to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) that would: Expand consumers’ private right of action to include all alleged violations of their rights under the CCPA; Eliminate businesses’ 30-day opportunity to “cure” alleged violations prior to being subject to civil enforcement by … Continue Reading
