On 7 March 2024, the European Court of Justice (the ECJ) published an important decision in relation to IAB Europe’s Transparency and Consent Framework (the TCF). The judgment of the ECJ is unsurprising given previous case law on the definitions of “personal data” and “controller” under the GDPR and the ECJ’s emphasis that the overarching … Continue reading
Earlier this week the ICO launched a call for views on the “pay or okay” business model. By way of recap, this model gives users of online services the choice to either consent to personalised advertising using their data or to pay a fee to access an ad-free version of the service. In its blog … Continue reading
On February 28, 2024, the White House issued an Executive Order on Preventing Access to Americans’ Bulk Sensitive Data and United States Government-Related Data by Countries of Concern. The 17-page Executive Order pointed out that “countries of concern” could use bulk sensitive data in a variety of ways that could adversely affect U.S. national security, … Continue reading
On February 21, 2024, President Biden signed an Executive Order and issued several federal rules aimed at improving the cybersecurity of U.S. ports and maritime supply chains. The measures introduce new cybersecurity requirements and standards for stakeholders of the U.S. Marine Transportation System (MTS) and increase the authority of the U.S. Coast Guard in its … Continue reading
This article first appeared in PLC Magazine in the January / February 2024 issue of PLC Magazine. The right of access to personal data looks set to be a key focus area for data protection regulators for 2024 in both the EU and the UK. The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) announced that its 2024 co-ordinated … Continue reading
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU)’s Schrems II decision[1] clarified strict rules for personal data transfers outside of the European Union. The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) followed up with recommendations[2] setting out its expectations on what the Schrems II decision meant for carrying out a data transfer impact assessment (TIA) for … Continue reading
On 25 December 2023, the Personal Data Protection Committee (PDPC) published two notifications detailing regulations for cross-border transfers of personal data under Sections 28 and 29 (Notifications) of the Personal Data Protection Act B.E. 2562 (2019) (PDPA). These Notifications are the Adequacy Country Notification and the Appropriate Safeguard Notificationrespectively. Key information In summary, the Adequacy … Continue reading
On November 1, 2023, the New York Department of Financial Services (“NYDFS”) released the finalized amendments of Part 500 of its cybersecurity regulations. These revisions represent the most significant modifications since the enactment of the rules in March 2017. Noticeably, covered entities are now subject to new requirements imposing heightened responsibilities on Chief Information Security … Continue reading
On November 1, 2023, the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) finalized the second amendment to its cybersecurity regulations, which are available here. The rules contain the provisions we had described in the original NYDFS proposal a year ago (see our blog post here), but include some changes. NYDFS included comments on the proposed … Continue reading
Under the Federal Trade Commission’s (“FTC”) new amendment to the Safeguards Rule (the “Amended Rule”), non-banking financial institutions will have to report certain data breaches and other security events to the agency. Requirements Approved on October 27, 2023 by a 3-0 vote by the Commission after a public comment period, the amendment requires non-banking financial … Continue reading
On 12 October 2023, the Government introduced the Information Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2023 (Bill) to Queensland Parliament which, amongst other things, establishes a mandatory data breach notification scheme (MDBN Scheme) in Queensland. The Bill is consistent with the recommendations in the Coaldrake Review and is currently under consideration by the Education, Employment and Training Committee. It is … Continue reading
We have published an article, EU: An overview of the European digital strategy, explaining the aims and key components of the EU digital strategy, outlining at a high-level key legislation that has been published in this space in the past three years and highlighting the way in which the various legislative instruments interact with each … Continue reading
The Information Commissioner’s Office has published new guidance on email security, with emphasis on safety when sending to multiple recipients which is relevant for pension schemes when emailing their membership. The principal points include: As regards pension schemes, administrators should remember that whether information is sensitive can depend on the context and consideration should be given to … Continue reading
The Provisional Administrative Measures of Generative Artificial Intelligence Services (Generative AI Measures), were published by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), together with six other authorities, on 13 July 2023 and will take effect from 15 August 2023. The Generative AI Measures, along with the likely enactment of the Artificial Intelligence Law in the 2023 legislative … Continue reading
On 19 June 2023, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (the ICO) published guidance on privacy enhancing technologies (or PETs) (the Guidance). The Guidance sits alongside the ICO’s recommendation that organisations should, if they haven’t already, start using PETs to share personal data safely, securely and anonymously. Structure of the Guidance The Guidance is split into … Continue reading
On 7 June 2023, at the ATxAISummit, Singapore launched the AI Verify Foundation, which aims to “harness the collective power and contributions of the global open source community” in order to develop the AI Verify testing tool for the responsible use of AI. In this short post, we discuss this development as well as the … Continue reading
Introduction On 15 May, the ICO published the monetary penalty notice (MPN) in relation to the £12.7 million fine it imposed on TikTok in April. This MPN and its accompanying annexes set out details of TikTok’s non-compliance with data protection law and the reasons why the ICO considered that a fine was appropriate. Whilst a … Continue reading
Introduction: On 22 May, the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (the DPC) published its decision against Meta Platform Ireland Ltd (Meta Ireland) in relation to Facebook’s transfer of user’s personal data to the US (the Decision). In it, the DPC ordered Meta Ireland to suspend Facebook’s future transfers of personal data to the U.S. within five … Continue reading
In response to the constantly evolving landscape of cybersecurity threats, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has recently updated their guidelines for Special Publication NIST 800-171, making its guidance more prescriptive, and potentially making it harder for contractors to comply. NIST 800-171 is a set of guidelines created to help federal agencies and … Continue reading
On 11 May 2023, members of the European Parliament passed their compromise text of the AI Act (the AI Act) at the committee stage, taking this law a step closer to being finalised. The compromise text (the Parliament Draft), which amends the Commission’s original proposal, includes quite a large number of amendments, some of which … Continue reading
Governments state that they use commercial spyware exclusively for criminal investigations, but critics claim such spyware has purportedly been used for human rights abuses targeting journalists, human rights defenders, lawyers, and political dissidents. Moreover, the U.S. Government and its employees have been allegedly targeted by such spyware. To set an example for governments globally—both authoritarian … Continue reading
IntroductionBy way of an interim measure adopted on 30 March 2023, the Italian Data Protection Authority (Garante per la protezione dei dati personali) (the Garante) ordered the US company Open AI LLC to temporarily stop ChatGPT’s processing of personal data relating to individuals located in Italy, pending the outcome of the Garante’s investigation into the … Continue reading
At last, UK Government publishes its White Paper on AI – “A pro-innovation approach to AI regulation” – an opportune start, but as expected, a framework with detail to follow… The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, has finally published its AI regulation white paper (the ‘White Paper’). Here are the key elements: What AI … Continue reading
In a recent decision (the Decision),[1] the Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) considered for the first time a company’s reliance on the Legitimate Interests Exception (as defined below) under the Personal Data Protection Act 2012 (PDPA) when the consent procured is invalid. The General Legitimate Interests Exception The general Legitimate Interests Exception was introduced to … Continue reading