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It has been eight years since the enactment of Singapore’s comprehensive data protection law, the Personal Data Protection Act 2012 (PDPA).

On May 14, 2020, a public consultation paper and accompanying Personal Data Protection (Amendment) Bill (Amendment Bill) were published, to solicit feedback on several proposed revisions to the PDPA.

The proposed changes are significant. Key amendments include:

  1. Increased financial penalties for contraventions of the PDPA
  2. Mandatory data breach notification
  3. Revised consent framework
  4. New data portability obligation
  5. Enhanced rules on telemarketing and spam

Continue Reading Changes coming to Singapore’s data protection law

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a joint state-and-federal initiative, “Operation Call It Quits,” which targets illegal telemarketing practices that violate the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR).

The TSR, which applies to interstate telephonic marketing communications intended to “induce the purchase of goods or services or a charitable contribution,” makes it illegal to engage in “abusive” acts and practices like failing to transmit caller identification information, calling telephone numbers listed on the National Do Not Call Registry, and using certain types of prerecorded messages or “robocalls.” The TSR also makes it illegal to engage in “deceptive” acts and practices while on a telemarketing call, like processing billing information without authorization, failing to fully disclose certain information before a customer consents to pay for goods or services, and misrepresenting material details of a sale. As part of this latest sweep of TSR enforcement, the FTC announced four newly filed actions:

  • In the first action, the FTC filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida against corporate and individual defendants alleged to have made illegal robocalls to “financially distressed consumers” with offers of “bogus credit card interest rate reduction services.”
  • In the second action, the FTC filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against individual and corporate defendants accused of using illegal robocalls to sell “fraudulent money-making opportunities.”
  • The third action, filed on the FTC’s behalf by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in the Middle District of Florida, targeted the “informational technology (IT) guy” alleged to have developed and operated computer-based “autodialer” technology used to make millions of illegal robocalls.
  • The fourth action, filed by the DOJ on the FTC’s behalf in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, alleges that a business and its individual owners sought to develop marketing leads for home solar energy companies by making millions of illegal robocalls and engaging in other abusive practices, including making more than 1,000 calls to a single telephone number in one year.

Continue Reading FTC and state law enforcement officials step up efforts against illegal telemarketing

On 8 November, 2018, Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) issued its response to feedback received on a public consultation paper. In that consultation paper, the PDPC had proposed to:

  1. merge the Do Not Call provisions in the Personal Data Protection Act 2012 of Singapore (PDPA) and Spam Control Act into a single legislation to govern all unsolicited commercial messages; and
  2. assess requests for the PDPC to make determinations on complex or novel compliance issues under the PDPA.

1. Unsolicited commercial messages

Scope

The new legislation will apply to messages sent to a user’s instant messaging identifier, where a sender has to be first added by a user. It will also apply to messages sent via MMS audio files and video files sent using instant messaging identifiers. However, it will not apply to in-app notifications or a mobile phone’s notifications.

Time period for effecting withdrawal requests

This will be eventually streamlined to a reduced period of 10 business days, via two distinct phases:

In the first phase, the withdrawal period for the Do Not Call provisions under the PDPA will be reduced from 30 to 21 calendar days. The pricing mechanism for Do Not Call registry checks will also be reviewed. However, for any spam unsubscribe requests, this will remain unchanged at 10 business days.

In the second phase, any withdrawal whether under the Do Not Call or spam control provisions will need to be effected within 10 business days.Continue Reading Singapore to adopt new legislation on unsolicited commercial messages, and enhanced practical guidance framework for data protection

On October 26, the Federal Communications Commission convened a second meeting of the Robocall Strike Force, which has been working for two months to develop solutions to the problem of illegal and unwanted robocalls. The Strike Force, led by AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, was established at the behest of FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, and is composed of members from 33 companies in the telecommunications industry. Its charge was to develop innovative and comprehensive solutions to detect and prevent undesired calls to consumers.

Unwanted phone calls and text messages continue to be the number one complaint to the FCC by a wide margin, and the volume of such complaints continues steadily to rise, despite the Commission’s laborious efforts, through rulemakings and the issuance of declaratory rulings, to interpret the Telephone Consumer Act (TCPA), the statute giving the FCC authority over unwanted calls, in a more and more consumer-friendly fashion, and despite both a stepped-up enforcement at the FCC and a continuous deluge of private class action lawsuits.Continue Reading FCC Robocall Strike Force Releases Its Report on Curbing Unwanted and Illegal Robocalls

On Friday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released Public Notices seeking comment on two recently filed requests for guidance on different aspects of its February 2012 Report and Order creating enhanced compliance obligations under its Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) rules. Both requests relate to that aspect of the Order that requires prior express written…

This post was written by Amy S. Mushahwar.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) acted today to tighten its rules under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and conform them, to the extent possible, with the more stringent rules already in place at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) under the Telephone Sales Rule (TSR). This change…