New Years Eve is a time when we all tend to look back on the past year and revel in achievements and berate ourselves for mistakes made or goals not yet achieved. I also find that this is a time when I start to regret some of the holiday gifts I purchased. Things I thought […]
Michelle Bausenwein
Posts by Michelle Bausenwein:

US Senate passes Kids Online Safety Act
My kids are growing and so are the worries that I have regarding their use of technology and the internet. In my article, Technology and Children – U.S. Courts Place Injunctions on State Laws for Unconstitutionality, in October 2023, I discussed recent U.S. court injunctions against state laws aimed at protecting children online, citing constitutional […]

PIAs and DPIAs: A Two-Step Process to GDPR Compliance
If you work in a company in the European Union or the UK you have probably heard your fair share about data protection. From HR to Sales, personal data infiltrates almost every aspect of a company. One of the biggest tasks under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is collecting all the information required and […]

Protecting Privacy, one State at a time: Maryland’s new Privacy Law
In the world we live in trends are an everyday thing, from YouTube Videos to TikTok challenges, from the clothes people wear to the music they listen to. We see trends in every part of our everyday lives. Sometimes in government, just like in our private lives, when something is a good idea (sometimes even […]

The American Privacy Rights Act – a new chapter in the U.S. data privacy story
The United States is seen throughout the world as a leader in technology. With major players growing from small start-ups to international household names. Despite such growth in the world of technology right in our backyards, the U.S. is also seen as lacking when it comes to regulating the implications of such technologies on our […]
The Magic of Christmas…I mean Consent!
Every child wakes up with an extra little twinkle in their eye on Christmas morning. Whether that twinkle comes on the 24th of December when the Christ Child visits in Southern Germany or on the 25th when Santa leaves goodies for all the good girls and boys throughout the US. The magic of Christmas is […]
Technology and Children – U.S. Courts Place Injunctions on State Laws for Unconstitutionality
It is our duty as parents to protect our children from the harms of the world, but as a mother of two young children I have learned that I cannot do it alone. The saying “It takes a village to raise a child” means more to me now than I ever could have imagined 10 […]
The Long-Awaited U.S. Adequacy Decision Has Been Issued By The European Commission
Last year in Spring I mentioned in my article, Will Spring Bring a New EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Agreement?, how the EU and the U.S. were working to bring about an easier way to transfer data across the Atlantic. It was stated by Sean Heather, senior vice president of regulatory affairs for the U.S. Chamber of […]
One Step Closer to a EU-U.S. Adequacy Decision
On October 7, 2022, U.S. President Biden signed the long-awaited Executive Order (EO) on ‘Enhancing Safeguards for United States Signals Intelligence Activities‘. Some would say it is merely a memorandum on how the US will continue to spy on individuals. Others would say it is an effort to control the intelligence system in place without […]
Nope, Data Protection Law Does Not Allow Us to Do THAT
It is the easiest excuse on the books right now. You want to do that…I am sorry data protection law prohibits it. Somethings are truly not allowed under data protection law, but sometimes people just use this as an excuse that they assume very few people can argue against. They just want to say “No”, […]
Will the Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework Bloom this Summer?
Spring has sprung, but we are still waiting for the flowers to appear. As I wrote in a blog article dated, March 23, 2022, it was anticipated that this spring the EU and the U.S. would come to an agreement with regards to the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield. On March 25, 2022, a joint announcement was […]
Will Spring Bring a New EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Agreement?
As winter draws to an end and the sun begins to shine more often we are noticing the new buds of spring beginning to appear. This spring flowers may not be the only thing making their appearance, the European Commission and the U.S. Department of Commerce are back to the table discussing a new EU-U.S. […]
How Will the German Data Protection Authorities Determine Fines For Companies? – The DSK Publishes a New Concept.
On October 14, 2019, the German Conference of Data Protection Authorities (DSK) published a concept for determining fines in accordance with the GDPR. In some regards, this concept resembles the model of the Berlin Data Protection Authority which was presented in June of this year (we reported in German), but some aspects remain less concrete. […]
The Effectiveness of Cookie Banners
On October 1st, the European Court of Justice handed down a ruling that could have a major impact on the design of the „cookie banners“ widely used on the Internet. Although the European Court of Justice was not actually considering the classic „cookie banner“, the ruling nevertheless makes statements which are significant to their practical […]
One for All and All for One…How the Supervisory Authorities are Working Together
The GDPR was created in such a manner to provide the same data privacy rights to data subjects throughout the EEA. The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) has provided a report on how this is working so far, “First overview on the implementation of the GDPR and the roles and means of the national supervisory […]