The Comission Nationale de l’informatique et des libertés, the French Data Protection Authority (‘CNIL’) published FAQs and a new guideline regarding cookies on October 1st, 2020. This guideline that was previously publicly consulted between January 14th to February 25th, 2020 has been developed in consultation with digital advertising stakeholders and civil societies. Stakeholders are requested […]
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New California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) Secured Enough Signatures for Ballot
You may have heard of the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) which entered into effect at the beginning of this year. You can find more information here. In the state ballot in November 2020, Californians will be asked to decide the fate of another new privacy law, the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA). The proposition […]
The CJEU rules in favour of Schrems and invalidates Privacy Shield Decision
In a landmark ruling (‘Data Protection Commissioner v Facebook Ireland and Maximilian Schrems’)[1], the CJEU invalidated the Privacy Shield Decision[2], whereby the Commission had determined that the United States ensured an adequate level of protection for personal data transferred from the Union to organisations in the US. Many organisations involved in transborder data transactions will […]
Is it a duty to notify the Supervisory Authorities of the appointment of the Data Protection Officer under the GDPR?
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in article 37.2 mentions the possibility of appointing a Data Protection Officer (DPO) for a business group, provided that the DPO is accessible from each establishment. This article has led to the conclusion that by appointing a DPO for the group the obligation is met. However, it is relevant […]
Europäischer Datenschutzausschuss kritisiert CLOUD Act Datenabkommen zwischen USA und Großbritannien
Das US-Gesetz CLOUD Act (Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act) erlaubt US-Ermittlungsbehörden den Zugriff auf Daten von US-Unternehmen, auch, wenn diese sich auf Servern im Ausland befinden und ohne dass es eines vorherigen Rechtshilfegesuchs bedarf. Problematisch daran ist, dass Art. 48 der EU-Datenschutzgrundverordnung (DSGVO) vorsieht, dass eine Übermittlung personenbezogener Daten in ein Drittland nur […]
USA: Email marketing rules under the CAN-SPAM Act
There exists a misconception across Europe that the USA does not have any state laws enacted which protect consumer rights and privacy of consumers. The European Commission has enacted a very powerful tool with the implementation and development of the GDPR, which sometimes makes us reconsider other country’s rules. The USA has a wide range […]
Right to deletion? Dutch Court: Not if overriding interests exist!
Dutch Arnhem-Leeuwarden Court of Appeal (hereinafter “Court”) seems to give insides on what accounts to an overriding interest according to Art. 21 para. 1 GDPR, when considering the right to deletion according to Art. 17 para. 1 lit. c GDPR (see here). Facts The data subject who works as an accountant had provided false information […]
Belgian DPA issues €50.000 fine on an Organisation for non-compliance with GDPR DPO appointment procedure
The Organisation (defendant) designated their Head of Compliance, Risk and Audit as their Data Protection Officer (DPO). The DPA ruled that in doing so, the Organisation violated art. 38(6) GDPR which requires that any tasks of the data protection officer do not result in a conflict of interest. According to the defendant, no conflict of […]
Perfect time to „phish“
The uncertainty caused by COVID 19 has led to a marked increase in a in so-called ‚phishing attacks‘ by cyber criminals. Phishing is highly used as the first step in cyber-attacks and is amongst the most prominent causes of data breaches and security incidents for both targeted and opportunistic attacks. Therefore, we would like to […]
Belgian DPA requires small companies using CCTV to maintain a record of processing activity
The APD/GBA (Belgian DPA) in April 2020 decided upon a complaint made in September 2018 with the authority.[1] The affected person claimed that he was filmed by CCTV of a store while walking outside on the sidewalk. The DPA investigated the complaint and requested from the store owner what can be expected: Storage period of […]
Dutch DPA imposes fine on company using fingerprint technology for attendance and time registration
The Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens, Dutch data protection authority, imposed a fine on a company, which relied on scanning their employees’ fingerprints for attendance and time registration.[1] Facts in a nutshell In the case at hand, the respective company introduced the new fingerprint system in order to reduce the fraudulent abuse of the previous attendance and time […]
COVID-19 – New Guidelines on the processing of health data for scientific research
On 21st April 2020, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) released new guidelines. As a preliminary remark, the EDPB sees that “there are currently great scientific research efforts in the fight against SARS-CoV-2”, which should lead to research results as soon as possible. At the same time, there are legal questions regarding the processing of […]
The California Consumer Privacy Act, or “Do Not Sell My Personal Information”
On January 1, 2020, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) has entered into effect, described by many as a landmark law and, according to the American Bar Association, the most comprehensive privacy legislation to be enacted in the United States of America. The CCPA was passed in 2018 and is aimed at providing consumers with […]
Totgesagte leben länger?
Die ePrivacy-Verordnung ist vorerst auf Eis gelegt Nachdem es vor einiger Zeit noch so schien, als würden die Verhandlungen zur geplanten e-Privacy-Verordnung möglicherweise wieder aufgenommen werden, ist die Verordnung nun erst einmal auf Eis gelegt. Auf dem Treffen des Telekommunikationsrates am 3. Dezember 2019 hat EU-Digitalkommissar Thierry Breton geäußert, dass ein komplett neuer Vorschlag zur […]
Data Protection Foundation Awards Journalist Prize
The year is coming to an end ever so rapidly – at least it feels like that for many of us. It is also the time of retrospection and of awards for this past year’s achievements. One such award is the Journalist Prize presented each year by Germany’s Data Protection Foundation, a private trust that […]