The Working Party recently issued its first Opinion for 2017, focusing on the EU Commission’s proposed ePrivacy Regulation (WP 247, Opinion 01/2017). The Commission’s proposal, which was published in January this year, aims to modernize the existing ePrivacy Directive (2002/58/EC as amended by 2009/136/EC) which concerns the protection of personal data in the context of […]
Legislation
New Mexico Data Breach Legislation Passes
New Mexico recently became the 48th state to pass some form of data breach notification legislation, leaving Alabama and South Dakota as the lone holdouts. The Data Breach Notification Act was signed by New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez on April 6, 2017. The law applies to persons that own or license personal identifying information of […]
Germany Proposes Bill Requiring Social Network Takedowns – with € 50 Million Fines
Recent media reports indicated that Germany was considering legislation that would fine social networks for failing to combat fake news and hate speech. Today, German Justice Minister Heiko Maas introduced a “Draft Law to Improve Law Enforcement in Social Networks” (abbreviated as the Network Enforcement Act (Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz), or “NetzDG”). The NetzDG aims to curb “hate-based […]
UK Launches Public Consultation on GDPR Consent Guidance
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will come into force on 25 May 2018, replacing UK’s Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA). It is yet unclear how Brexit will play out, yet in the meantime the United Kingdom is moving to adopt the GDPR principles so that it adequately protects the personal data transferred within the […]
Australia Adopts New Data Breach Notification Legislation
On February 13, 2017 Australia became one more among nation states adopting data breach notification legislation. In recent House and Senate votes, the Australian Parliament amended the Privacy Act 1988, introducing mandatory data breach notification requirements for entities regulated by the Privacy Act. Who is Subject to the New Legislation? The recent bill requires entities […]