In this week's Privacy Tracker global legislative roundup, read about how Australia's Parliament passed a controversial bill mandating that technology companies assist the nation's law enforcement bypass encryption. In the Czech Republic, the lower house of Parliament introduced draft privacy legislation to bring the country in line with the EU General Data Protection Regulation. In Uganda, Parliament announced it passed the Data Protection and Privacy Bill, 2015. And in Senegal, the digital economy minister signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Virginia-based Internet Society to develop an internet-of-things security framework.
LATEST NEWS
In the Czech Republic, the lower house of Parliament approved draft privacy legislation to bring the country fully in line with the EU General Data Protection Regulation, Czech Radio reports.
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The European Commission presented a coordinated plan to foster the development and use of artificial intelligence in Europe.
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A regulation came into effect Dec. 3, removing unjustified geo-blocking in the online environment across the European Union, Business Review reports.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke against a coalition bill that would force internet service providers in Israel to censor pornographic sites automatically, Times of Israel reports.
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Digital rights organizations from across Europe sent a letter to Serbia’s National Assembly, asking that the country’s data protection commissioner be selected in a transparent process and that it employ the highest standards for selection, EDRi reports.
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Senegal’s digital economy minister signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Virginia-based Internet Society to develop an IoT security framework, Devdiscourse reports.
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The Parliament of Uganda announced it has passed the Data Protection and Privacy Bill, 2015, protecting the collection, processing and disclosure of personal information.
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ICYMI
Alexander Seger, head of the cybercrime division at the Council of Europe, speaks about the new Protocol to the Convention on Cybercrime (Budapest Convention), which adds enhanced international cooperation and access to evidence in the cloud.
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David Meyer reports for The Privacy Advisor on how South Korea is making changes to its data protection enforcement system that will hopefully clear the way for its long-awaited adequacy decision from the European Union.
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In this Privacy Tracker post, Ozan Karaduman, CIPP/E, looks at legitimate interest as a lawful basis for data processing within the Turkish Data Protection Law and compares it to the rules around legitimate interest in the EU General Data Protection Regulation and the EU Data Protection Directive.
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US
In the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s 2019 fiscal year pre-solicitation document, the agency explains that it would like to dedicate resources toward creating blockchain forensic applications to help address bitcoin analytics, Bitcoin reports.
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The U.S. Federal Trade Commission announced it is seeking comment on whether it should alert the Red Flags Rule and Card Issuers Rule.
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The Electronic Frontier Foundation joined 15 privacy organizations in urging California state legislators to uphold and improve the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018.
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The Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently ruled that employers have a legal duty to protect employees’ electronically stored personal information and that failing to do so could leave them liable for damages, according to a blog post from Stradley Ronon.
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Oath has agreed to pay a $5 million settlement with the New York attorney general over allegations it violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, making it the largest penalty ever paid under COPPA, The New York Times reports.
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The Business Roundtable, a group of more than 200 retailers, tech companies and financial institutions, plans to release recommendations for a federal U.S. privacy law, The Washington Post reports.
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Attorneys general from a dozen states have filed a lawsuit against Medical Informatics Engineering and NoMoreClipboard related to their 2015 data breach, KVOA reports.
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ASIA-PACIFIC
Australia's Parliament passed a bill mandating that technology companies assist the nation's law enforcement bypass encryption in private messaging apps, Fortune reports.
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The Chinese government has used local laws to push alternative energy car manufacturers within the country to send the location data of their users, The Associated Press reports.
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Gizmodo reports that more than 600 Google employees have signed a letter of opposition to the company’s controversial Dragonfly project, which aims to create a censored search product for China.
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CANADA
Privacy Commissioner of Canada Daniel Therrien said a new federal privacy law should balance privacy and innovation, IT World Canada reports.
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Health, Seniors and Active Living Minister of Manitoba Cameron Friesen introduced an amendment to the Personal Health Information Act, Global News reports.
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EUROPE
The information within Ireland’s national DNA Database System will be shared with other European countries in order to assist in law enforcement investigations, TheJournal.ie reports. The European Council approved the agreement between the EU member states, Iceland and Norway.
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The European Data Protection Board has updated the list of countries that have submitted opinions on what should trigger a data protection impact assessment under the EU General Data Protection Regulation.
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The Dutch data protection authority, the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens, has published guidance on when entities can track individuals through Wi-Fi.
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A year after its initial release, French data protection authority, the CNIL, has upgraded its privacy impact assessment tool and published a new PIA guide.
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The German Parliament, the Bundestag, has named Social Democratic Party of Germany Member and former Justice Secretary of State Ulrich Kelber as the new federal data protection commissioner, Handelsblatt reports.
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Following a complaint raised by Digital Rights Ireland on behalf of Irish Times Columnist Karlin Lillington, Ireland’s Data Protection Commission said it is investigating the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection for “potential breaches” of the EU General Data Protection Regulation, The Irish Times reports.
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The Italian Competition and Market Authority announced it has fined Facebook and Facebook Ireland 10 million euros for its violations of the country’s Consumer Code.
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Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila offered her opinion on claims the country’s government is using the EU General Data Protection Regulation to force the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project to reveal its sources, EUobserver reports.
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A pair of officials from the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters published a paper in which they propose a potential solution to the law enforcement encryption debate, The Washington Post reports.
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