In this week’s Privacy Tracker legislative roundup, Poland has passed its data protection law reform, which will go into effect with the coming of the new year. In Canada, there are questions about the constitutionality of CASL, and Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien warns that if Bill C-13 is passed as is, it will likely face a charter challenge. And in Spain, an association of judges is questioning whether the draft Criminal Procedure Act violates detainees’ rights. In the U.S., bills have been introduced to halt surveillance on both the state and federal level, and Illinois is set to pass a new wiretap law that will replace the current one, deemed unconstitutional.
LATEST NEWS
Hunton & Williams’ Privacy and Information Security Law Blog reports,Poland has signed into law changes to its Personal Data Protection Act.For more on what that will mean, seethis post from Marcin Lewoszewski.
Sputnik News reports a spokesman for Spain's Judges for Democracy says the country’s draft Criminal Procedure Act could be violating fundamental rights of detainees.
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) has introduced a bill to prevent the government from forcing companies to design backdoors or security vulnerabilities in their products that would aid surveillance, reports IDG News Service.
Modern Healthcare reports Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) has announced the new U.S. House plans to address healthcare software regulation, data security and data privacy issues, noting the SOFTWARE Act (Sensible Oversight For Technology Which Advances Regulatory Efficiency) will be on the agenda.
California Sen. Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo/Santa Clara) has introduced legislation that would require users of automatic license-plate reader systems to implement security parameters and develop a privacy and usage policy, reports Half Moon Bay Patch.
Legislation to fix Illinois’ unconstitutional eavesdropping law passed the Senate last week and now heads to Gov. Pat Quinn’s desk, reports Chicago Sun-Times.
U.S.
TVNewsCheck reports the Federal Communications Commission has settled an investigation of Newport Television LLC for $35,000. The case involved “the station's recording and broadcast of a person's telephone conversation as part of a news segment without first telling the person that the call was being recorded and would be broadcast," the report states.
The White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs is reviewing the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) sUAS rule as well as privacy issues, while the FAA is set to publicly release its rules for drones weighing less than 55 pounds.
The Wall Street Journal reports the FAA’s new drone rules will include requiring operators to have licenses and limiting flights.
Following his questions into car-for-hire service Uber’s data-collection practices, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) asked Lyft to explain its privacy practices, CIO reports.
The Federal Trade Commission has settled with medical billing provider PaymentsMD and its former CEO for allegedly misleading "thousands of consumers who signed up for an online billing portal by failing to adequately inform them that the company would seek highly detailed medical information from pharmacies, medical labs and insurance companies."
The Chronicle of Higher Education reportsthe U.S. Department of Education has esentially no power to protect those taking free online courses because "MOOCs are seldom paid for with Title IV, government-funded dollars."
The Associated Press reports a California appeals court ruled the state's law requiring the collection of DNA from anyone suspected of a felony is unconstitutional.
A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that a Florida law requiring welfare applicants to submit to drug tests prior to receiving benefits violates the Fourth Amendment, The News Service of Florida reports.
Los Angeles Times reports a man has been sentenced to one year in jail for violating California's newly enacted "revenge porn" law.
CANADA
A new paper in The John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law contends Canada's federal anti-spam legislation, CASL, "creates unconstitutional limits on free speech,"Financial Post reports, stating CASL violates freedom-of-expression guarantees in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
CBC News reports Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien told the House Privacy Committee if Bill C-13 passes without amendment, it could face a Charter challenge.
EU
The Article 29 Data Protection Working Party has now published guidelines on how EU data protection authorities intend to implement the right to be forgotten pursuant to the CJEU's decision. Paul Lanois unpacks the guidelines in this exclusive for The Privacy Advisor.
Bloomberg reports that justice ministers “are backtracking” from proposals that would have granted singular authority to specific data protection authorities.
Giovanni Buttarelli will be officially appointed the new European Data Protection Supervisor and Wojciech Wiewiórowski will be appointed the assistant supervisor. Wilson Sonsini's Christopher Kuner applauds the news, in this post for Privacy Perspectives but argues the selection process needs to be improved. In an interview with The Privacy Advisor,Buttarelli discusses his new role.
French data protection agency, the CNIL, has undergone a reorganization leading to the creation of a compliance directorate with the goal of supporting data controllers in compliance efforts. Pascale Gelly, CIPP/E, CIPM, reports on the new guidance for The Privacy Advisor.
The Article 29 Working Party has agreed on a new "Co-Operation Procedure for Issuing Common Opinions on Contractual Clauses" that aims to help companies that want to rely on model contracts to export personal information from the European Economic Area, Jan Dhont and David Dumont of Lorenz write in this exclusive for The Privacy Advisor.
Italy’s data protection authority, the Garante, has issued its general resolution on biometrics, which includes a new 24-hour data breach notification obligation, reports Data Guidance.
ASIA PACIFIC
The Australian Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs has handed down its report on the Freedom of Information (FOI) Amendment (New Arrangements) Bill 2014, which proposes changes to applicants' rights to seek review of FOI decisions.
The New Zealand Office of the Privacy Commissioner has implemented its new "naming" policyand has madea submission on the Countering Terrorist Fighters Legislation Bill.
LATIN AMERICA
In this exclusive for The Privacy Advisor, Cristos Velasco, CIPP/E, reports on discussions about the right to be forgotten at the XII Meeting of the Iberoamerican Data Protection Network.