Synthetic data undoubtedly offer several benefits to the privacy and data protection of individuals, however, the debate regarding the extent of their use and the potential risk of re-identification renders its use controversial. Specifically, the question of whether synthetic data can be rendered pseudonymous or anonymous remains unresolved and both views have acquired supporters and […]
mb-firstprivacyenglisch

The EDPB releases report of the outcome of the cookie banner task force
Following the massive number of draft complaints (over 500) to companies implementing allegedly unlawful cookie banners issued in May 2021 by the non-profit organization NOYB, the EDPB decided to set up a task force composed of delegations of the EU Supervisory Authorities (SAs) to coordinate the response to complaints filed with several European SAs by […]

How did your kid find out about that game they are constantly talking about? It is a mystery even to the most experienced elf…
Responsible advertising to children (during Christmas time and beyond) in the EU Children are at the heart of Christmas. Many businesses operate in the online world and target their products and services to children, trying to persuade them that they can make their Christmas dreams come true! What are the rules about targeting to children […]

EU Commission published Draft Adequacy Decision for EU – US data transfer
On 13 December 2022, approximately only 1 month after the signing of President Biden’s Executive Order, the European Commission announced the Draft Adequacy Decision for EU – US Data Transfers. This time-record achievement officially launches the process towards the adoption of the Adequacy Decision for the proposed EU-US Data Privacy Framework, and may put a […]

„Old“ Standard Contractual Clauses to be Invalid as of the End of December (27.12.2022)
The European Commission decided on new Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) in June 2021. After 27 December 2022, only these „new“ SCCs may be used without exception. What does that mean for companies and organizations? If personal data is transferred to processors (or their sub-processors) or to controllers in a country outside the EU or the […]
Spanish Supreme Court: Data subjects can submit their complaint directly to a supervisory authority
According to a decision of the Spanish Supreme Court (Tribunal Supremo) of July 2022, filing a request to exercise the data subject rights with the data controller is not a prerequisite for filing a complaint to the relevant Supervisory Authority for an alleged breach of the GDPR. The decision was issued after a complaint of […]
Art. 9 GDPR: What counts as special categories of personal data?
In its judgment of August 1, 2022, the CJEU extended the scope of application of Art. 9 GDPR to “indirectly sensitive data” following a referral from a Lithuanian Administrative Court (Case C 184-20). This ruling is being widely discussed in the data protection world, as it has the potential to have a big impact on […]
Will the American Data Privacy and Protection Act Become Law Eventually?
While some U.S. states have data privacy laws, amongst them California, known to have the strictest privacy law, to date, the United States do not have a federal data protection act. In June this year, a first draft of the American Data Privacy and Protection Act (ADPPA) was proposed. The draft bill received bipartisan support and […]
ICO fine for unlawful facial recognition
Clearview AI (hereafter Clearview) is a company dedicated to facial recognition. Clearview created a data base of over 20 billion images indexed from the Internet and social media and developed a facial recognition algorithm to analyze and match faces. Clearview compares sample images provided by its clients (mostly law enforcement bodies, governments, and banks) with […]
UK GDPR Reform
In September 2021, the government launched its consultation here to draw proposals to make substantial changes in the UK Data Protection Laws which were less stringent than the EU GDPR but still covered all the important data protection rights. The UK government has expressed that the focus of this reform is to make a trusted […]
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”, […]
Fines by the Spanish Data Protection Authority on cookies and the measures to verify customers’ identities.
In April 2022, the Spanish data protection supervisory authority – Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (AEPD) – issued several fines and in this article, we will review four decisions totaling 178,000 euros. What and why is the AEPD issuing fines? Unlawful use of cookies and outdated policies In Decisions 482, 483, and 603, the […]
We will record this call for contract proving purposes
The French data protection supervisory authority, Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL), recently published a Guide (25.04.2022) about call recording to prove the formation of a contract. When to record? The rule of thumb is to record calls that are necessary because there are no other means of proving that the data subject has […]

REJECT ALL by Google
Google introduced a “reject all” cookie button for Search and YouTube. Google launched in France a cookie banner enabling users to use Search and YouTube and “REJECT ALL” the cookies used for personalizing content and ads, measuring their effectiveness, or developing or improving new Google services. With the new cookie banner design, users are expected […]
Amazon Road Transport Spain Fined 2 Million EUR by Spanish Regulator for Requesting Certificates of Good Conduct from Drivers
The Spanish data protection supervisory authority, Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (AEPD), has issued a fined of 2 million EUR against Amazon Road Transport Spain, S. L., a logistics company that manages deliveries for US-based online-merchant Amazon (see here). Backgound, or: How to Become a Delivery Driver Amazon Road Transport works with formally self-employed […]