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Commerce GC: Notice-and Choice No Longer Sufficient

Posted By Cynthia Larose on Posted in European Union, Privacy Regulation

Outgoing U.S. Commerce Department General Counsel Cameron Kerry used the opportunity of his final public remarks to emphasize that a unified U.S. privacy framework is essential to the future of the digital economy. Legislation should not wait for some data disaster to happen that undermines the trust essential to a successful digital economy. One byproduct of the unauthorized disclosures… Continue Reading

New Enforcement Guidance from the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office

Posted By Susan Foster on Posted in Data Compliance & Security, European Union, Mobile Privacy, Privacy Regulation

(LONDON) Who is on the ICO’s radar these days? August seems to be the month for getting new guidance documents out the door at the United Kingdom’s Information Commissioner’s Office. The UK ICO has just published guidance as to when it is likely to take regulatory action. The new guidance should be reassuring to companies… Continue Reading

New Tools from the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office: How to Respond to Subject Access Requests

Posted By Susan Foster on Posted in Data Compliance & Security, European Union, Legislation, Privacy Litigation, Privacy Regulation

Written by Susan Foster, Solicitor England & Wales/Admitted in California (LONDON) The UK ICO has come through yet again with some clear guidance as to how to apply the UK’s data protection laws in connection with requests by individuals for access to their personal data. While we are waiting with bated breath for a final… Continue Reading

Privacy Monday - July 29, 2013

Posted By Cynthia Larose on Posted in 201 CMR 17.00, Cybersecurity, Data Breach, Data Breach Notification, European Union, Privacy Monday

Privacy goofs, gaffes and tidbits for the last Monday in July —   NSA Surveillance Causes More Grief –Germany Calls for a Stop to Safe Harbor: Time for Binding Corporate Rules? According to news sources the federal and state German data protection commissioners late last week sent a letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, requesting… Continue Reading

EU Data Protection Regulation: and the horizon recedes again . . .

Posted By Susan Foster on Posted in European Union, Legislation, Privacy Regulation

Written by Susan Foster, Solicitor England & Wales/Admitted in California (LONDON) We recently wrote that a crucial committee vote on the new EU Data Protection Regulation had been pushed back until May 29-30. The vote has been delayed again until an unspecified future date, although Jan Phillip Albrecht, the MEP who is one of the… Continue Reading

EU Data Protection Regulation: Looming closer . . .

Posted By Susan Foster on Posted in European Union, Legislation

Written by Susan Foster, Solicitor England & Wales/Admitted in California (LONDON) The draft of the new Data Protection Regulation, the first EU privacy law with highly serious teeth in the form of fines based on global turnover, continues to wend its way through various committees of the European Parliament (EP). The European Parliament recently pushed… Continue Reading

EU versus Google: A test case for the viability of a global data protection policy?

Posted By Cynthia Larose on Posted in European Union, Privacy Regulation

Written by Susan Foster, Solicitor England & Wales/Admitted in California (LONDON) The EU has escalated its existing investigation of Google’s global privacy policy, a policy covering all of Google’s services that was introduced by Google last year. Up until April 3, the French data protection authority, CNIL, had effectively been tasked with engaging with Google… Continue Reading

Latest EU Proposal Will Force More Companies to Disclose Data Breaches

Posted By Cynthia Larose and Susan Foster on Posted in European Union

Written by Susan Foster (LONDON) The European Commission recently published a draft “Cybersecurity Directive” which aims to increase the level of preparedness across the EU to deal with threats to network and information security. The Directive provides for information-sharing and cooperation between the governments of Member States of the EU to tackle cybersecurity threats. As… Continue Reading

The Sony data breach fine: A hand-slap from London now, but what would it have been under the proposed new EU Data Protection Regulation?

Posted By Cynthia Larose on Posted in Data Breach, Data Breach Notification, European Union, Privacy Regulation

Written by Sue Foster, Mintz Levin - London The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined Sony £250,000 for the widely publicized 2011 security breach during (see here, here, and here) which hackers gained access to personal data (including credit card information) of over 77 million users. For a company of Sony’s size, £250,000 is a hand-slap —… Continue Reading

The View from London: European Parliament Publishes Proposal for Revised Draft of EU Data Protection Regulation

Posted By Cynthia Larose and Susan Foster on Posted in European Union, Privacy Regulation

Written by Susan Foster The European Parliament recently published a report on the European Commission’s draft of a new EU Data Protection Regulation. The report, which includes the European Parliament’s proposal for a revised draft of the Regulation runs to an astounding 215 pages. The Parliament’s report is certain to fuel debate for months as… Continue Reading

From Brussels: The New EU Data Protection Regulation — Will they or won’t they? And if so, when?

Posted By Cynthia Larose on Posted in Data Breach Notification, Data Compliance & Security, European Union, Privacy Regulation

Susan Foster, a Member in Mintz Levin’s London office, attended last week’s IAPP Conference in Brussels and filed this report — Written by Susan Foster Sometimes the most interesting things that emerge from conferences are whispered across the aisle just after a presentation or debated by attendees off-site over a glass or two of wine…. Continue Reading

The new European Cloud Partnership and UK ICO Guidance on Personal Data and Cloud Computing

Posted By Cynthia Larose on Posted in European Union

Written by Susan Foster, Solicitor England & Wales/Admitted in California   EC Cloud Partnership The European Commission recently announced a €10 million campaign aimed at establishing standards and voluntary certification programs to make cloud computing services better aligned with European data protection laws. The EC intends to leverage the purchasing power of national and local… Continue Reading

Comprehensive Data Protection Reform Proposal Released by European Commission

Posted By Cynthia Larose on Posted in Data Breach Notification, European Union, Legislation, Privacy Regulation, Uncategorized

International Data Protection and Privacy Day is Monday, January 28th. The European Commission certainly found a way to mark the day. After weeks of intense speculation, the European Commission has released its sweeping package of legislation to reform the Data Protection Directive. We are analyzing the entire legislative package, which includes a new regulation and a directive and… Continue Reading

Things to do in 2012: Questions to Ask of Cloud Vendors

Posted By Cynthia Larose on Posted in Data Breach Notification, Data Compliance & Security, European Union, HIPAA/HITECH, Security

Adoption of cloud computing is certainly on the increase — but 2011 has seen evidence of some of the risks associated with moving to the cloud. Notable among the year’s data breaches was the breach at e-mail marketer Epsilon Data. To quickly refresh your memory, Epsilon was the victim of a hacking attack, and once… Continue Reading

Recommended Reading: Privacy Policy Paper on Online Behavioral Advertising Issues

Posted By Cynthia Larose on Posted in European Union, Legislation, Online Advertising, Privacy Regulation

Most of the legislative privacy buzz this session has centered around online behavioral advertising (OBA) — along with the Federal Trade Commission’s proposal for a universal “do-not-track.” The center of discussion for U.S. legislators and regulators has been clear and conspicuous disclosure to users about OBA and to allow opt-outs. Regulators on the EU are… Continue Reading

House Committee to Discuss EU Privacy Regulation

Posted By Cynthia Larose on Posted in European Union, Legislation

On Thursday, September 15, the U.S. House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade will hold a hearing on “Internet Privacy: The Impact and Burden of EU Regulation.” The hearing will focus on the EU’s privacy and data collection regulations and how they have impacted the internet economy. A witness list is available here . Given the most… Continue Reading

More Data Retention Issues for Hotels in EU?

Posted By Cynthia Larose on Posted in European Union

Hotels in the Netherlands may soon be deemed Internet Service Providers (ISPs) if they offer free Wi-Fi to their guests.  The Dutch Telecommunications Authority (OPTA) has received an “unspecified complaint” leading to the recent announcement that registration as ISPs may be required under the Dutch Telecommunications Act.   Registration as an ISP would certainly subject hotels… Continue Reading