Global News Roundup—October 21-27, 2014

In Australia, the communications minister is trying to repeal some reporting requirements for telcos, and New South Wales is mulling new rules for offshore data storage, while in Canada, the  House of Commons Industry Committee is taking another crack at Bill S-4 and critics are speaking out over Bill C-13. U.S. states are looking at prescription drug monitoring, breach notification and encryption requirements for health data; Italy's Chamber of Deputies has published a draft of an "Internet Bill of Rights," and the UK Information Commissioner’s Office has updated its code of practice for surveillance cameras and personal information. All this and more in this week’s Privacy Tracker weekly legislative roundup.

LATEST NEWS

Australian Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has introduced a bill that would repeal certain reporting requirements for telcos, reports The Guardian.

Canada’s House of Commons Industry Committee will now review Bill S-4, the Digital Privacy Act, reports IT World Canada.

Canadian Justice Minister Peter MacKay is getting criticism from both parties over Bill C-13, also known as the cyberbullying bill, reports CBC News.

JDSupra offers some insight from a Bloomberg BNA report on the ambiguities that occur when the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act intersect.

The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a rule allowing certain financial institutions to post annual privacy notices online rather than by paper delivery, reports American Banker. (Registration may be required to access this story.)

Alabama Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) has indicated he is working on legislation that would require companies doing business in the state to notify customers of data breaches, reports Times Daily.

New Jersey legislators have proposed AB 3322, requiring health insurers to encrypt personal health data on all of their computers, reports NJSpotlight.

The New Jersey Assembly Consumer Affairs Committee has approved AB 3146, aiming to protect consumers from identity theft, reports New Jersey 101.5.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett is expected to sign a bill that creates a prescription drug monitoring program despite privacy concerns, York Daily Record reports.

ICYMI

Kurt Wimmer and Caleb Skeath of Covington & Burling LLP write in this Privacy Tracker post that the International Organization for Standardization's (ISO) new standard, ISO 27018, is the first voluntary international standard for processing information that is specifically tailored for cloud providers and includes many requirements imposed by EU law.

Olivier Proust writes for Privacy Tracker about the "burdensome exercise" that is notifying data protection authorities of data processing, noting it is still necessary.

In this Privacy Tracker post, Christian Wiese Svanberg of Plesner Law Firm offers an overview of the recent EU Council of Ministers discussions on the proposed data protection regulation, noting "the reform now appears unstoppable, and fundamental changes to the scope and legal form of the proposal are becoming increasingly unlikely."

U.S.

Several states are attempting to pass legislation requiring cell-phone makers to include a "kill switch," but the trend is raising red flags for privacy advocates who say they would provide law enforcement with too much power, USA Today reports.

President Barack Obama on Friday signed an executive order that will bolster security for federal credit cards, a move designed to urge private-sector banks and retailers to follow suit, Reuters reports.

GovInfoSecurity reports that, while President Barack Obama has called on Congress to enact data breach notification legislation, that won't happen this year.

A Florida court has ruled that physician defendants may have equal access to the health information of plaintiffs and that such access does not violate the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, HealthITSecurity reports.

The Supreme Court agreed to take up a hotel privacy rights case involving a Los Angeles, CA, city ordinance that requires hotels to maintain detailed guest lists and make them "available to any officer of the

Los Angeles Police Department for inspection," The Wall Street Journal reports. (Registration may be required to access this story.)

A New Jersey federal judge threw out a Wyndham Worldwide Corp. shareholder's derivative action over a series of security breaches, Law360 reports. (Registration may be required to access this story.)

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) outlined his agenda for technology legislation in the next Congress and highlighted the need to reform to email privacy, The Hill reports

CANADA

Mondaq looks at Canada's Anti-Spam Law provisions "concerning the distribution and installation of computer programs," suggesting they should "be of particular concern to all businesses who distribute or intend on distributing software either alone or as part of their product or service offerings."

Tighter privacy laws were among the issues highlighted by the Saskatchewan government in last week’s throne speech, CBC News reports.

EU

The ICO has updated its code of practice for surveillance cameras and personal information, cautioning that surveillance cameras "must only be used as necessary and proportionate to address real and pressing concerns," Brian Davidson, CIPP/E, reports in one of a series of articles for The Privacy Advisor on recent developments in the UK.

The Paris Court of First Instance has found for the plaintiffs in a suit on the right to be forgotten, Pascale Gelly, CIPP/E, CIPM, writes for The Privacy Advisor.

The French Supreme Court has ruled employers must notify the CNIL of devices to monitor employees' email volume and flows, Pascale Gelly, CIPP/E, CIPM, writes for The Privacy Advisor.

The parliamentary committee in Italy's Chamber of Deputies has published the initial draft of an "Internet Bill of Rights" it has been working on since August, ZDNet reports.

ASIA PACIFIC

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner has released its 2013-14 Annual Report, which shows the office handled a record number of complaints, reports ZDNet.

The New South Wales Office of the Attorney General "has confirmed the government's intentions” to include rules for “storing data offshore, particularly as part of cloud computing arrangements," iTnews reports.