News

In, January 2018, NIST, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, released Blockchain Technology Overview.  The document is thought for readers with little or no knowledge of blockchain technology Public comment period: January 24, 2018 through February 23, 2018 Full text available here  

On January 8, 2018, the FTC announced that VTech Electronics Limited and its US subsidiary (VTech) agreed to settle with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) a claim that the companies violated children’s privacy through the commercialization of some connected toys. Allegedly VTech violated COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998) by collecting personal information from children […]

In this constitutional challenge to the 2013 amendments to sections 766.106 and 766.1065 of the Florida Statutes requiring claimants in a medical malpractice claim to disclose certain protected health information (PHI) and to consent to secret, ex parte interviews between health providers and defendant , the Florida Supreme Court held that the requirements were unconstitutional and […]

On October 24, 2017, Advocate General Bot issued his preliminary opinion in case C‑210/16, opining on the definition of a data controller, applicable national law, and jurisdiction under EU data protection law under Directive 95/46/EC. The opinion is not binding but if followed by the European Court of Justice (CJEU), EU companies that have been […]

In a post of January 5th, Nigel Houlden, the Head of Technology Policy of ICO (the United Kingdom Data Protection Authority) gives organizations recommendations on how to deal with Meltdown and Spectre and protect people’s personal data. As it is now well known, three connected vulnerabilities have been found in Intel’s, AMD’s, and ARM’s processors which could […]

On October 18, 2017, the EU Commission published its report on the first annual review of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield. The report reflects the Commission’s findings on the implementation and enforcement of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield framework in its first year of operation. According to the EU Commission, the Privacy Shield “continues to ensure an […]

On November 29, 2017, the Working Party 29 (WP29) established a task force on the Uber data breach case. This task force, led by the Dutch DPA, will be composed of representatives from the French, Italian, Spanish, Belgian and German Data Protection Authorities (DPAs), as well as from the ICO and will coordinate the national […]

Today, on Dec 14, 2017, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) voted 3-2 to repeal the 2015 Open Internet Order, i.e., the Obama-era regulation requiring the companies to treat all web traffic alike. The repeal of net neutrality was performed by the passing of an order named “Restoring Internet Freedom,” which “essentially removes the FCC as a regulator […]

On November 29, 2017, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in an important privacy case. The Sixth Circuit held that the protection granted under the Fourth Amendment did not prevent the government to access business records from the defendants’ wireless carriers revealing the user’s location without a warrant. In Carpenter v. United States Timothy Carpenter and Timothy Sanders […]

Apps using face recognition cause some privacy concerns. The iPhone X’s front sensors scan 30,000 points to make a 3D model of users’ faces and then shares the faces’ maps with lots of apps. However, Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr said “We take privacy and security very seriously. This commitment is reflected in the strong protections […]