In this Privacy Tracker weekly legislative roundup, read about the way advocates of free speech caused the author of a Philippines privacy bill to request a rewrite, two multi-million dollar settlements in the U.S. and plans in the UK for easier intelligence access to travelers’ information. Meanwhile, in California, the governor will receive two student privacy bills to sign, or not, and the North Carolina Assembly has advanced a law giving individuals a civil cause of action against unwarranted drone surveillance. Also, read up on Canada’s recently introduced tort of intrusion upon seclusion and a class-action suit that will determine whether patients can sue hospitals for invasion of privacy.
LATEST NEWS
After certain stakeholders criticized the current draft of a privacy bill in front of the Philippines House of Representatives, the House will rewrite the bill—a request made by its author, Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, reports The Philippine Star.
HSToday.us reportsthe North Carolina General Assembly has advanced the Appropriations Act of 2014, which includes a provision giving anyone surveilled without a warrant “civil cause of action against the person, entity or state agency that conducts the surveillance or that uses an unmanned aircraft system to photograph for the purpose of publishing or otherwise disseminating the photograph.”
The Electronic Frontier Foundation makes its case to pass the USA FREEDOM Act and kill the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act in this release.
GLOBAL
Markus Heyder provides an update for Privacy Perspectives on the status of the APEC Cross-Border Privacy Rules.
U.S.
A U.S. District Court in California has approved a $32 million Telephone Consumer Protection Act settlement, ending a class-action against Bank of America and FIA Card Services that alleged the defendants systematically called or texted consumers' cell phones through automatic dialing systems and/or prerecorded voice systems without express consent, Hunton & Williams' Privacy and Information Security Law Blog reports.
Government Technology reports on two bills heading to California Gov. Jerry Brown for signing, both of which deal with issues affecting student privacy. SB 1177 describes privacy guidelines for operators of websites, online services and mobile applications, while AB 1584 focuses on obligations with contracts between local education organizations and third-party technology vendors.
The Privacy Advisor reports on Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) recent proposal of the REDEEM Act, a bill intended to facilitate the sealing of adult criminal records. According to the proposed legislation, those convicted of nonviolent crimes can petition to have their criminal records sealed.
Reuters reports Google's settlement of a privacy lawsuit likely won't win approval because its terms include a donation to Harvard University and other schools that attorneys involved in the case attended, a judge said.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced Verizon has agreed to settle with the agency and pay $7.4 millionfor failing to notify approximately two million customers of their privacy rights.
In a column for Slate, UC-Berkeley Prof. Chris Jay Hoofnagle writes that use-regulation "has tremendous implications for civil liberties and our society," adding, "Ultimately, it can help determine how much power companies and governments have."
Four House Democrats are protesting what they call a "secret law" that allows spying on Americans' emails and is a "threat to democracy." The legislators are asking President Barack Obama "to ban 'disproportionate or unnecessary' collection of people's messages, Internet chats and other communications,"Fox News reports.
CANADA
A class-action suit against Peterborough Regional Health Centre to be heard by the Court of Appeal in December will determine whether patients can sue hospitals for invasion of privacy, Toronto Star reports.
Law Times reports, "With the certification of Evans v. The Bank of Nova Scotia, the newly introduced tort of intrusion upon seclusion has become another weapon in the arsenal for the class-action plaintiffs' bar."
EU
After Europe's top court created a right to be forgotten, a battle involving Facebook and Hamburg data protection regulator Johannes Caspar was resurrected, Bloomberg reports.
In this exclusive for The Privacy Advisor,iappANZ's Peter Leonard analyzes the UK Information Commissioner’s Office's recent advice on big data, which includes warnings about putting too much trust in the concept of anonymization and putting in place a "values-based framework and rigorous governance arrangements."
TheNew York Times reports that an Irish government committee has been established to select the successor to current Data Protection Commissioner Billy Hawkes.
Austrian Justice Minister Wolfgang Brandstetter would like a data retention law following the Constitutional Court's decision to strike down Austria's existing law in July, Telecompaper reports.
PressTV reports UK Prime Minister David Cameron is “expected to unveil plans that make it easier for intelligence agencies to access airline passenger information" as part of the government's strategy to fight terrorism.
The Swiss Federal Council said the European Court ruling on data retention has no effect on Swiss laws, Telecompaper reports. The Swiss law on telecoms surveillance is under review, with an aim to increase the required data storage period to 12 months.