News

In November 2016, the DC Bar Legal Ethics Committee issued Ethics Opinion 370 (Social Media I) and 371 (Social Media II), which address the use of social media by lawyers for marketing and personal use and for providing legal services. The two opinions aim at increasing awareness of the ethical issues generating from the increasing use […]

On July 13, 2016 the Tax Court basically found that the use of predicting coding does not alter discovery standards for response completeness. This is the background: In September 2014 the Tax Court found that predictive coding is an expedited and efficient form of computer-assisted review that allows parties in litigation to avoid the time […]

Following ICO’s comments on Brexit, on October 24, 2016, the UK Secretary of State Karen Bradley MP used her interview before the Culture, Media and Sports Select Committee to confirm UK’s participation to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) coming into effect in the spring of 2018. The Secretary said that: “We will be members […]

On November 3, 2016, the Bavarian Data Protection Authority (BayLDA) informed that it will carry out a privacy audit on the international data transfers of more than 500 companies. The Authority has decided to carry out such audits because of the suspicion that companies may transfer data abroad without even being aware of it. Indeed, many small […]

On September 26, 2016, the Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information issued an order prohibiting Facebook to collect and store data of German WhatsApp users.  The decision came after WhatsApp issued a statement informing its users that the application’s terms and privacy policy was updated, as a consequence of WhatsApp’s joining Facebook. […]

On September 27, 2016, the Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers of Europe (CISPE) announced the publication of the Data Protection Code of Conduct for Cloud Infrastructures Services. The CISPE comprises several major European cloud infrastructure providers. The code of conduct provides that the certified cloud infrastructure providers: will process and store data exclusively within the EU/EEA […]

Commercial use of biometric data increased dramatically in recent years: some software are now able to recognize physical characteristics, such as fingerprints, retinas, hand and facial geometry, as well as voices. This technology makes people’s life easier as their hand or voice may be enough to access their phone or bank account, and one single click may […]

On a request for a preliminary ruling by the Bundesgerichtshof on the interpretation of 2(a) and 7(f) of Directive 95/46/EC (“Data Protection Directive”), the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) held that a dynamic IP address registered by an online media services provider when a person accesses a website that the provider makes accessible to the […]

On October 25, 2016, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) issued a revised code of practice and checklist on privacy notices, transparency and control. The code helps organizations required by the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) to “collect information about people, whether directly or indirectly” to provide transparent and accessible “privacy notices” to data subjects. The […]

IANA stewardship functions transitioned to private sector when on October 1, 2016, the contract ICANN-U.S. Government ended The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is a nonprofit organization responsible for coordinating maintenance and procedures of several databases related to the namespaces of the Internet. Basically, it coordinates unique identifiers across the world (users’ addresses), allowing […]