European Parliament publishes a paper on blockchain and the GDPR, titled “The General Data Protection Regulation  Can distributed ledgers be squared with European data protection law?” Here is the link to this interesting paper: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2019/634445/EPRS_STU(2019)634445_EN.pdf   More information. on GDPR and blockchain, Francesca Giannoni-Crystal 

On June 4, 2019, the Corte di Cassazione, the Italian Supreme Court, clarified the scope of the right of the public to be informed (also known as public right’s to know)  in relation to the right of the individual to be forgotten with reference to old news, which are being republished after many years. In this […]

  On July 29, 2019, the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) published its judgement in case C-40/17, holding – like Advocate General Bobek (see here) suggested – that an organization who embeds a Facebook “Like” button on its website may be considered a data controller. In this case, a German fashion online […]

  On July 16, 2019, the UK Data Protection Authority, the Information Commissioner Officer (ICO), opened a consultation on a data sharing code of practice. The consultation closes on September 9, 2019. The data sharing code is a practical guide for controllers sharing personal data. It gives guidance on the applicable law and provides good […]

  On July 4, 2019, the Commission Nationale de l’informatique et des Libertés (CNIL), the French Data Protection Authority (DPA) adopted new guidelines on cookies and other tracking devices (“Guidelines”). According to the press release, the scrolling down or swiping through a website or application is no longer viewed as a valid expression of consent to […]

On July 17, 2019, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) adopted and published a list of the types of processing operations that require a data protection impact assessment (DPIA) under Article 39 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 for the EU institution. The EDPS also adopted a list of those processing that at first sight do not […]

  On July 9, 2019, the Court of Justice of the European Union heard oral arguments on a landmark case concerning Facebook’s transfer of personal data from the EU to the US on the basis of the currently utilized “standard contractual clauses” (SCCs) mechanism. See here for more info. The oral hearing took place in […]

On May 30, 2019, Oregon Governor signed HB 2395 containing security measures required for devices that connect to the Internet and that are assigned an Internet Protocol address or another number that identifies the connected device. The manufacturer shall equip the connected device with “reasonable security features”, which may consist of means for authentication from […]

On July 9, 2019, the European Court of Justice (CJEU) heard oral arguments on a landmark case concerning Facebook’s transfer of personal data from the EU to the US on the basis of the currently utilized “standard contractual clauses” (SCCs) mechanism. The CJEU’s decision — will have tangible consequences for businesses performing data transfers from […]

On June 6, 2019 Maine’s governor signed into law LD 946, “An Act To Protect the Privacy of Online Customer Information.” The Act applies to broadband internet service providers (ISPs) defined as any “mass-market retail service by wire or radio that provides the capability to transmit data to and receive data from all or substantially all […]

  On June 6, 2019 Attorney General Letitia James, announced a $65,000 settlement with online retailer Bombas LLC for failing to provide notice of payment cards consumers’ data breach occurred to 39,561 consumers. In 2014 unauthorized intruders inserted malicious software code to steal payment card information into the ecommerce platform supporting Bombas’ website. Intruders accessed […]

  On June 6, 2019, the Republic of San Marino approved the Blockchain Decree of the Republic of San Marino (Delegate Decree n. 86, dated May 23, 2019). No official press statement has been released yet, but this source revealed the news. The Blockchain Decree provides a regulatory framework formulating specific rules for two different […]

On April 25, 2019, the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation 2019 entered into force. The Regulation was issued by the National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, and it mirrors the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The Regulation’s scope of application is quite broad. It applies to all transactions intended for the processing of personal data […]

On May 8, 2019, the Brussel’s Court of Appeal referred certain questions to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) to ensure that the Belgian Data Protection Authority (DPA) can pursue the case against Facebook also after the GDPR entered into force. In particular, the questions is whether the one-stop shop mechanism (which […]

On April 16, 2019, North Carolina House of Representative introduced H.B. 904. The Bill amends the Identity Theft Protection Act. Among the many changes introduced, the Bill: amends the definition of security breach to include any incident of “unauthorized access to or acquisition of (was, access to and acquisition of) unencrypted and unreacted records or […]

    On April 17, 2019, the EU Parliament adopted the proposed EU Regulation on platform-to-business trading practices. The text adopted by the European Parliament still has to be formally approved by the Council of the European Union. Once approved, the Regulation will enter into force 12 months after its publication in the Official Journal. […]

  On April 22, 2019, the House of Representatives modified chapter 19.255 RCW to amend its data breach notification law. The definition of “data breach” does not change. The security of the system means “unauthorized acquisition of data that compromises the security, confidentiality, or integrity of personal information maintained by the person or business.” But […]

  On April 30, 2019, vpnMentor published an article revealing that hacktivists Noam Rotem and Ran Locar discovered an unprotected database impacting up to 80 million American households (65% of US households). The 24 GB database was hosted by a Microsoft cloud server and included the number of people living in each household with their full […]

On April 16, 2019, the European Parliament informed that it decided to create the Common Identity Repository (CIR). The CIR will interconnect a series of data systems (listed below) into a gigantic biometric database containing data about EU and non-EU citizens to improve data exchange between EU information systems to manage borders, security and migration. […]

On April 24, 2019, Facebook published its financial results for the first quarter, where it estimated a probable loss and recorded an accrual of $3 billion  in connection with an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission  (FTC).  The investigation could result in a penalty of up to 5 billion. The FTC began its investigation into […]

On November 9, 2019, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) adopted guidelines on the GDPR’s lawful basis for processing. In particular, the EDPB provided guidance on the “contractual necessity basis for processing personal data in the context of online services.” Guidelines 2/2019 on the processing of personal data under Article 6(1)(b) GDPR in the context […]

  On April 9, 2019, the UK Data Protection Authority, the Information Commissioner Officer (ICO), served a monetary penalty notice under section 55A of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) of around $ 520,000. The fined company (Bounty) shared the personal data of over 14 million individuals to a number of organizations including credit reference […]

On March 27, 2019, the Utah Governor signed H.B.57 into law. The Bill modifies provisions related to privacy of electronic information or data and their access by law enforcement. H.B 57 defines electronic information and data as being any “information or data including a sign, signal, writing, image, sound, or intelligence of any nature transmitted […]

  On February 25, 2019, an Illinois Senator introduced SB2134 to amend the Biometric Information Privacy Act (740 ILCS 14/1 et seq., BIPA) creating a  private right of action. The bill is currently in Committee. The majority of BIPA claims have been brought against businesses as class actions seeking statutory damages.   Synopsis Amends the […]

On March 26, 2019, Urzędu Ochrony Danych Osobowych (UODO), the Polish Data Protection Agency (DPA) imposed a fine of around $250,000 on a company for failure to fulfill its information obligation as a controller. The UODO explained that the controller did not meet the information obligation (Art. 14 (1) – (3), GDPR) in relation to […]

  On Friday, March 22, 2019,  the Washington State House of Representative’s Committee on Innovation, Technology and Economic Development held its first public hearing on the proposed privacy legislation, SB 5376. The Washington privacy act, SB 5376, was introduced January 17, 2019 and passed its third reading in the Senate with 46 votes (against 1) on […]

On March 14, 2019, the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens, DPA) published on Netherlands Official Gazette its own General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) fining policy. It is the first European Union (EU) country to do so. Article 83, GDPR, provides that DPAs can issue to controllers and processors “effective, proportionate and dissuasive” administrative fines […]

Regulation (EU) 2018/1807 of 14 November 2018, which deals with “non personal data” in the framework of the EU’s digital single market strategy; it aims at removing obstacles to data mobility and the internal single market. In particular, it prohibits data localization requirements by place EU Member States in point of storage or processing of non-personal data, […]

  On February 27, 2019, the American Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a proposed stipulated order for civil penalties and other reliefs against Musical.ly for violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by collecting personal information from kids without parental consent. The $5.7 million civil penalty is the FTC’s largest ever under COPPA. […]

  On February 2, 2019, the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) published a Survey on Device Fingerprinting. (“Survey“) “Device fingerprinting is the systematic gathering of information on a specific remote device with the aim of identifying, singling out and, thus being able to monitor its user’s activity for the purpose of profiling.” The data set […]

On February 20, 2019, Bulgaria adopted the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679, GDPR) harmonization law. The law amends and supplements the previous data protection act from 2002. It also transposes the EU Law Enforcement Directive (Directive (EU) 2016/680). The new Law on Personal Data Protection (LASLPDP) entered into force on March 2, 2019 […]

  On February 7, 2019, the Bundeskartellamt, the German antitrust authority, prohibited Facebook from combining data concerning German Facebook users gathered also from third party websites when the user didn’t give voluntary consent to this practice. The decision concerns all private users of Facebook based in Germany. According to the Bundeskartellamt’s decision, until now, individuals […]

  On February 28, 2019, Thailand’s National Legislative Assembly passed the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA). According to this source, the PDPA will be signed and endorsed by the monarch, and will then be published in the Government Gazette before to enter into force later this year. This article explains that the legislative text includes […]

Below a list of the harmonization laws enacted by each EU member state. Austria: the Datenschutz-Anpassungsgesetz 2018, the “Datenschutzgesetz“. Belgium: Framework Act (Dutch) Framework Act (French), DPA Act (Dutch), DPA Act (French) Croatia: Zakona O Provedbi Opće Uredbe O Zaštiti Podataka, the Act on Implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (Official Gazette no. 42/2018) Cyprus: Law n 125(I)/2018 Czech […]

  On February 12, 2019, Law no. 12/2019, converting into law the so called Decreto Semplificazioni (“Simplification Decree”), Legislative Decree No. 135/2018 was published on the Italian Official Gazette no. 36/2019. Among other provisions, the Simplification Decree defines the concept of “technologies based on distributed ledgers (blockchain)” and “smart contracts”. “Technologies based on distributed ledgers” are technologies and […]

On February 12, 2019 the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) warned that in the absence of an agreement between the EEA and the UK (no-deal Brexit), the UK will become a third country from 00.00 am CET on 30 March 2019. The EDPB provides 5 steps organizations that transfer data to the UK should take […]

  On January 25, 2015, the European Commission released a statement with an update about the effects of the adoption of Regulation 2016/679/EU (GDPR). See: Joint Statement by First Vice-President Timmermans, Vice-President Ansip, Commissioners Jourová and Gabriel ahead of Data Protection Day Since its entry into force on May 25, 2018, “citizens have become more […]

On December 19, 2018, Advocate General Bobek, published his opinion in case C-40/17, deeming that anyone who enters the Facebook “Like” button on his website can be considered a joint controller. In this case, a German fashion online retailer embedded a Facebook’s ‘Like’ button in its website. As a result, when users landed on the […]

    On January 15, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that websites and mobile applications (app) of places of public accommodation must be fully accessible to persons with disabilities. By way of background, Plaintiff – a blind man – alleged that Defendant Domino’s Pizza, LLC, (Domino’s) failed to […]

On March 28, 2018, Alabama was the last State, after South Dakota, to adopt a data breach notification statute. The Alabama Data Breach Notification Act of 2018 (S.B. 318) went into effect on June 1, 2018. According to the Alabama Statute, any “covered entity” and “third-party agent” must comply. Written notification must be made to all affected […]

On 23 January 2019, the EU Commission adopted its adequacy decision on Japan, allowing personal data to flow freely between Europe and Japan. The adequacy decision started to apply as of January 23. The same will happen on the Japanese side. The adequacy decision includes: a set of Supplementary Rules to strengthen the protection of sensitive data, […]

On January 21, 2019, the CNIL (Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés, the French Data Protection Authority), restricted committee, for the first time applies the new sanctions limit provided by the GDPR and sanctions Google for EUR 50 million for two GDPR violations: 1. “violation of the obligations of transparency and information“ “First, the restricted […]

On December 14, 2018, New York Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood announced settlements with Western Union Financial Services, Inc., Priceline.com, LLC, Equifax Consumer Services, LLC, Spark Networks, Inc., and Credit Sesame, Inc., “for having mobile apps that failed to keep sensitive user information secure when transmitted over the Internet.” No fraud had happened with those […]

Washoe County, Reno, in the State of Nevada, uses Ethereum blockchain to provide immutable digital record of wedding certificates. The service allows certified copies of marriage certificates to be emailed. It requires no special technology besides the ability to view a plain PDF. The county uses the services of a company called TitanSeal. At https://www.washoecounty.us… you […]

On December 28, 2018, the French Data Protection Agency, the Commission Nationale de l’informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) published several principles to help companies comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) while transferring personal data to their commercial partners for electronic prospecting. Particularly, the CNIL highlights how: the data subject must give consent before the […]

The DC Attorney General alleged in lawsuit Facebook’s ‘misleading privacy settings’ allowed it to harvest information from DC residents, in violation of  violated the D.C. Consumer Protection Procedures Act. The AG alleged that “nearly half of all District residents’ data to manipulation for political purposes during the 2016 election”. The AG stated Facebook failed to […]

In November 2018, a German local court, the Amtsgericht Diez, decided on a claim for immaterial damages under Art. 82.1, GDPR.  According to this source, on May 25, 2018, Plaintiff received an e-mail in which Plaintiff’s consent to receive a newsletter was requested. An email of this sort is considered spam under German law and […]

On November 27, 2018, the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC), informed that seven EU consumer organizations filed complaints against Google with their national data protection authorities (DPAs) for breaching the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in relation to how the company tracks its users’ location. The complaints are based on new research (Every step you take) […]

On November 16, 2018, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) adopted guidelines on the territorial application of the GDPR. Guidelines 3/2018 on the territorial scope of Regulation 2016/679/EU- Version for public consultation. The guidelines are now open to public consultation. The Guidelines aim at clarifying the territorial scope of the GDPR, in particular where the data […]

Expressing an opinion on a proposed bill aiming at substituting –in a 2015 Ministerial decree, Ministero dell’Interno del 23 dicembre 2015 – the words “father“ and “mother” in place of “parents or legal guardians” on the application for a minor’s ID, the Garante per la Protezione dei Dati (the Italian Data Protection Authority) highlights how the […]

On September 30, 2018, the DOJ filed net neutrality lawsuit against the State of California, alleging that Senate Bill 822, a bill signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown, unlawfully imposes burdens on the Federal Government’s deregulatory approach to the Internet. See more here. complaint here Francesca Giannoni-Crystal

Privacy needs to be reckoned with by “Advanced TV” industry. And this will be more and more the case. According to the press, marketers are investing more and more in advanced TV targeting. Rather than broadcasting the same ad to all households, advanced televisions serve targeted ads to each household. The term “advanced TV” is […]

On October 10, 2018, the Portuguese Data Protection Authority (CNPD) found the Barreiro Hospital guilty of violating the integrity and confidentiality principle and the data minimization principle set forth by the GDPR. According to this source, the infringements were punished with a fine of €400,000. The hospital is going to fight the fine, this source […]

On November 1, 2018, Senator Ron Wyden introduced for discussion the draft of a new Consumer Data Protection Act (Bill SIL18B29). The Bill aims at allowing consumers “to control the sale and sharing of their data, gives the FTC the authority to be an effective cop on the beat, and will spur a new market […]

On October 3, 2018, the European Parliament published a resolution on distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) and blockchain. DLTs and blockchain are the technologies behind bitcoin and other crypto currencies, and basically consist in a ledger of digital information maintained in decentralised form across a large network of computers. See here for more information. The EU […]

On October 18, 2018, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published – along with Department of Homeland Security, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Small Business Administration – guidance for small businesses on how to deal with cyber threats and increase data security. The FTC highlighted a dozen need-to-know topics: Cybersecurity Basics, Understanding […]

On October 4, 2018, the European Parliament adopted the proposed EU Regulation on the Free Flow of Non-Personal Data in the European Union. The Regulation aims at removing obstacles to the free movement of non-personal data within the European Union. The Regulation does not cover data mobility outside the EU. The approved Regulation does not […]

On October 16, 2018, the European Union Blockchain Observatory and Forum published a thematic report on the Blockchain and the GDPR (“Report”). The report includes the input of a number of different stakeholders and sources. The report aims at answering the question of whether GDPR compliant blockchain is possible. The paper highlights a fundamental point: […]

On September 26, 2018, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) met for their third plenary session. During such session the EDPB adopted Guidelines on the GDPR’s Territorial Scope. The guidelines will be subject to a public consultation. The Guidelines aim at clarifying the territorial scope of the GDPR, in particular where the data controller or […]

Do the benefits of smart contracts overwrite their downfalls? While smart contracts bring a lot of benefits, allowing for a quick execution once a certain condition takes place, a lot of value can get lost in these transactions. For example, it is estimated that in 2017, over $1B in value was lost with smart contracts […]

In September 2018, the French Data Protection Agency, the Commission Nationale de l’informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) published a report explaining how Blockchain relates to the GDPR (“Report”). In particular the Report highlights the following. WHO IS THE CONTROLLER IN A BLOCKCHAIN TRANSACTION. Users of the web who decide to submit a transaction to the validation […]

In August, the FTC took action against false claims of participating to the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework. These are the first cases addressing the Privacy Shield Framework introduced on July 12, 2016. Allegedly, the companies under investigation started the application for the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield but never completed it; yet they falsely claimed to be […]

The EDPB adopted opinions on the draft lists that several supervisory authorities issued regarding he processing operations subject to the requirement of a data protection impact assessment (DPIAs, according to Article 35.4 GDPR). This power of EDPB is pursuant to Article 63, Article 64 (1a), (3) – (8) and Article 35 (1), (3), (4), (6) […]

After only three months from its approval the California Consumers Privacy Act (CCPA) was amended. On September 23, 2018 Senate Bill 1121 was signed into law. The legislation, which takes effect immediately, amends the CCPA, which was passed on June 2018. Among other things, the amendment: – clarifies the definition of “personal information”, explaining that it […]

Aon and DLA Piper released a “price of data security” report on where GDPR’s fines are generally insurable. According to the guide, only Finland and Norway allow insurance for this type of fines. In 20 out of 30 jurisdictions, GDPR fines do not seem insurable (like in UK, France, Italy and Spain), and in the […]

Attorney General Schneiderman announced that his office received 1,583 data breaches notice in 2017, which was the quadruple of the 2016 number. Hacking was the leading cause of the data security breaches (44%), while  negligence account for another 25% of breaches. In particular Employees’ negligence consisted of a combination of inadvertent exposure of records, insider wrongdoing, […]

On September 20, 2018, the Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that it reached settlement with several medical centers after they allegedly compromised patients’ protected health information (PHI) by inviting film crews on premises to film an ABC’s television documentary series, without first obtaining authorization from patients. According to […]

On September 19, 2018, Argentina’s president sent a data protection bill to the national Congress for approvaI. In Argentina the protection of personal data was constitutionally regulated in 1994 and by means of a law promulgated in 2000. See here. According to the bill’s preface, in consideration of the many technological innovations of the last […]

     On July 6, 2018, the UK Data Protection Authority, the Information Commissioner Officer (ICO), served what looks like the first enforcement notice regarding the processing of UK individuals’ personal data by a nonresident organization. The notice was directed to Aggregate IQ (AIQ), a digital advertising, web and software development company based in Canada. […]

On September 19, 2018, Legislative Decree n. 101/2018 harmonizing the Italian privacy law with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) entered into force. Legislative Decree was published on the Official Italian Gazette (Gazzetta ufficiale n. 205 04-09-2018) on September 4, 2018. More on the Legislative Decree and the Italian Privacy Code (Legislative Decree 196/2003) is available […]

On September 11, 2018, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) began hearing evidence from over 70 stakeholders in the case whose judgement shall outline the territorial scope of the right to be forgotten. The panel of 15 CJEU judges will rule in 2019. The request for a preliminary ruling (Case C-507/17) was […]

On September 4, 2018, Legislative Decree n. 101/2018 harmonizing the national privacy law with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was published on the official Italian journal (Gazzetta ufficiale n. 205 04-09-2018). The Legislative Decree does not abrogate the Italian Privacy Code (Legislative Decree 196/2003), which therefore remains in force, but that Code is harmonized with […]

On July 12, 2018, the German federal court (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH) overturned the judgment of the Berlin’s highest state court (Kammergerichts), which had denied the parents’ access to their daughter’s Facebook account. The case involved a mother trying to access the deceased 15-year-old daughter’s Facebook account in order to understand the cause of death. With its […]

CJEU: in the references for preliminary rulings the national judge must anonymise the data   On July 20, 2018, the Official Journal of the European Union (C 257/1) published a document in which the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) clarifies to national courts and tribunals the essential characteristics of the preliminary ruling procedure and the […]

On May 22, 2018, Vermont passed a new data broker piece of legislation, Act No. 171 (H.764), which adopts a number of consumer protection provisions relating to data brokers, their data collection practices, and consumers’ right to opt out of them. It ensures that data brokers have adequate security standards, it aims at prohibiting the […]

On August 14, 2018, the Brazilian president signed the Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais (“LGPD”) into law. The LGPD is a comprehensive data privacy regulation, which has many similarities with the GDPR, such as for example its broad scope of application, which includes processing activities conducted wholly outside of Brazil, but affecting or […]

On August 8, 2018, the Italian Government communicated that the legislative decree that harmonizes the national legislation to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will not abrogate the Italian Privacy Code previously in force. According to an initial formulation, the legislative decree was intended to completely repeal the privacy laws in force. However, in the […]

On May 31, 2018, the Garante per la Protezione dei Dati Personali, Italy’s Data Protection Authority (DPA) issued a decision explaining that until a legislative decree that harmonizes domestic law with the GDPR will come into force, the current complaint procedure shall be considered incompatible with the Regulations. The DPA refers to Article 77, GDPR, […]

At the beginning of June the EU Council discussed its position on the ePrivacy Regulation to update privacy rules for electronic communications. It appears like no real progress was registered at the Council meeting and that further work is needed under the next presidency (June to December 2018). The ePrivacy Regulation aims at ensuring a […]

On June 5, 2018, the European Court of Justice (CJEU), issued its preliminary ruling in C‑210/16, opining on the definition of data controller, applicable national law, and jurisdiction under EU data protection law according to Directive 95/46/EC. According to the CJEU’s judgement, EU companies that have been advertising through Facebook can be considered data controllers […]

The scandal of Cambridge Analytica caused several consequences for Facebook in Europe. In the United Kingdom, the Information Commissioner (ICO) is investigating the use of personal data and analytics by political campaigns, parties, social media companies and other commercial actors by 30 organizations, including Facebook. See here. The Working Party 29(WP29) created a Social Media Working Group to develop a […]

According to Reuters, Facebook is modifying its terms and conditions so that the data of around one and a half billion of its users will be processed by Facebook USA rather than Facebook Ireland. As of today, the data of the users of Africa, Asia, Oceania and Latin America are processed by Facebook Ireland, thus […]

Arizona signed House Bill 2603 to add a definition in Section 10-140, Definition – Arizona Revised Statutes (Section 10, Corporations and Associations) In particular, now 10-140(53) reads: 53.  “WRITING” OR “WRITTEN” INCLUDES BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY AS DEFINED IN SECTION 44‑7061. See https://legiscan.com/AZ/text/HB2603/id/1718691 The definition of “blockchain technology” is contained in Section 44-7061: “distributed ledger technology that uses a distributed, […]

Less than one month to the entering into force of the GDPR, the text (in all language versions) is still subject to changes, sometimes significantly. http-::data.consilium.europa.eu:doc:document:ST-8088-2018-INIT:en:pdf For more information and for advice on GDPR implementation, Francesca Giannoni-Crystal.    

Several DPAs have issued guidance on how individuals can exercise their rights as data subjects vis-a-vis social media platforms. See for example: – ICO – United Kingdom: https://ico.org.uk… – Data Protection Commissioner – Ireland: https://dataprotection.ie… – Croatian Data Protection Agency: request for the protection of rights request for removing personal data from social networks reporting […]

In March 2018, the Garante per la Protezione dei Dati Personali, Italy’s Data Protection Authority, issued a fine of Euros 32,000 against the Rousseau association, controller of the processing of data of the website users of the Italian political party “5-Star” (Cinque Stelle). Federprivacy reports. After a data breach, the Italian DPA started investigating whether […]

Hackers stole a casino’s high-roller database hacking through a thermometer placed in a fish tank of the casino. The hackers accessed it and were then able to find their way across the network and up to the cloud to the valuable database. Source Businessinsider reports on April 15, 2018. Nowadays a lot of devices and everydaytools […]

On April 17, 2018, 34 global technology and security companies signed a Cybersecurity Tech Accord, agreeing to defend all customers everywhere from malicious attacks by cybercriminal enterprises and nation-states. The 34 companies include ABB, Arm, Cisco, Facebook, HP, HPE, Microsoft, Nokia, Oracle, and Trend Micro, and together represent tech companies that power the world’s internet […]

On March 8, 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found that an alleged “increased risk of future identity theft” suffices Article III standing requirement in a data breach putative class action. On June 1, 2015, the District Court of Nevada had dismissed for lack of standing the data breach putative class […]

On March 23, 2018, the omnibus spending bill was signed into law; a portion contains the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act (CLOUD Act). The CLOUD Act’s main goal is to grant governments timely access to electronic data stored by communication-service providers (such as email service providers, certain cloud service providers and social media providers). The […]

On March 21, 2018, South Dakota adopted a data breach notification statute. According to the South Dakota Statute, any “information holder” must comply. An “Information holder” is any person or business that conducts business in South Dakota and owns or licenses “personal information” or “protected information” of residents of South Dakota. The statute is added […]

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued its 2017 Privacy & Data Security Update. The annual report summarizes the year’s privacy and data security enforcement actions, advocacy, workshops and guidance. Among the FTC’s 2017 privacy and security actions announced, is the first actions enforcing the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield framework.   The 2017 Privacy & Data Security update […]

The Italian Council of Ministers preliminarily approved a legislative decree (in furtherance of Parliament’s delegation Law October 25 2017, no. 163), containing provisions to amend domestic law in compliance with the GDPR. In fact, effective May 25, 2018, Legislative Decree June 30, 2003 no. 196 will be abrogated and the GDPR will be immediately into […]

Article 30 GDPR requires each controller and each processor to maintain a record of processing activities under its responsibility which must be in writing (including electronic form). Article 30 details the minimum content of the record. Some DPA made available model forms and notes for keeping records of processing activities: the BayLDA, the Bavarian DPA […]

In an early effort to adapt Italian privacy law to the GDP, in November 2017, a new Article 110bis was approved for introduction in the Italian Privacy Code, redrafting the discipline concerning the re-use of data for scientific research or statistical purposes. The new Article 110bis, Italian Privacy Code, (Legislative Decree n. 196/2003) introduced three changes that […]

In, January 2018, NIST, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, released Blockchain Technology Overview.  The document is thought for readers with little or no knowledge of blockchain technology Public comment period: January 24, 2018 through February 23, 2018 Full text available here  

On January 24, 2018, the Commission issued “Stronger protection, new opportunities – Commission guidance on the direct application of the General Data Protection Regulation as of 25 May 2018”. In the document the Commission lists the guidelines that the WP29 has issued (and is about to issue) on several important aspects of the Regulations. [1] […]

On January 8, 2018, the FTC announced that VTech Electronics Limited and its US subsidiary (VTech) agreed to settle with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) a claim that the companies violated children’s privacy through the commercialization of some connected toys. Allegedly VTech violated COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998) by collecting personal information from children […]

In this constitutional challenge to the 2013 amendments to sections 766.106 and 766.1065 of the Florida Statutes requiring claimants in a medical malpractice claim to disclose certain protected health information (PHI) and to consent to secret, ex parte interviews between health providers and defendant , the Florida Supreme Court held that the requirements were unconstitutional and […]

On October 24, 2017, Advocate General Bot issued his preliminary opinion in case C‑210/16, opining on the definition of a data controller, applicable national law, and jurisdiction under EU data protection law under Directive 95/46/EC. The opinion is not binding but if followed by the European Court of Justice (CJEU), EU companies that have been […]