FTC’s enforcement in relation to Privacy Shield

In August, the FTC took action against false claims of participating to the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework. These are the first cases addressing the Privacy Shield Framework introduced on July 12, 2016. Allegedly, the companies under investigation started the application for the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield but never completed it; yet they falsely claimed to be […]

California Consumers Privacy Act got amended and enforcement actions delayed

After only three months from its approval the California Consumers Privacy Act (CCPA) was amended. On September 23, 2018 Senate Bill 1121 was signed into law. The legislation, which takes effect immediately, amends the CCPA, which was passed on June 2018. Among other things, the amendment: – clarifies the definition of “personal information”, explaining that it […]

$999,000 in HIPAA settlements for unauthorized disclosure of patients’ protected health information

On September 20, 2018, the Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that it reached settlement with several medical centers after they allegedly compromised patients’ protected health information (PHI) by inviting film crews on premises to film an ABC’s television documentary series, without first obtaining authorization from patients. According to […]

ICO served GDPR enforcement notice on a non resident organization (Canadian company)

     On July 6, 2018, the UK Data Protection Authority, the Information Commissioner Officer (ICO), served what looks like the first enforcement notice regarding the processing of UK individuals’ personal data by a nonresident organization. The notice was directed to Aggregate IQ (AIQ), a digital advertising, web and software development company based in Canada. […]

Italian GDPR harmonization law is now in force

On September 19, 2018, Legislative Decree n. 101/2018 harmonizing the Italian privacy law with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) entered into force. Legislative Decree was published on the Official Italian Gazette (Gazzetta ufficiale n. 205 04-09-2018) on September 4, 2018. More on the Legislative Decree and the Italian Privacy Code (Legislative Decree 196/2003) is available […]

Italian GDPR harmonization law is published on the Official Gazette

On September 4, 2018, Legislative Decree n. 101/2018 harmonizing the national privacy law with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was published on the official Italian journal (Gazzetta ufficiale n. 205 04-09-2018). The Legislative Decree does not abrogate the Italian Privacy Code (Legislative Decree 196/2003), which therefore remains in force, but that Code is harmonized with […]

Facebook profile can be accessed by heirs, German federal court says

On July 12, 2018, the German federal court (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH) overturned the judgment of the Berlin’s highest state court (Kammergerichts), which had denied the parents’ access to their daughter’s Facebook account. The case involved a mother trying to access the deceased 15-year-old daughter’s Facebook account in order to understand the cause of death. With its […]