In this week’s Privacy Tracker legislative roundup, read about Singapore’s new cybersecurity law, Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security has proposed a data localization regime, and the European Commission denied the U.K.’s Brexit proposal. Australia’s Information and Privacy Commissioner will resign next month, and the country's new data breach notification law went into effect. Canada will soon see a review of its Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. In the U.S., Georgia is considering an online “snooping” bill, California will debate two bills aimed at protecting social media data, the Oregon Senate unanimously approved a data breach notification bill, and a new Virginia bill would require tax preparers to notify the Department of Taxation in the event of a data breach.

LATEST NEWS

The National Law review offers an analysis of Personal Information Privacy Standards released last month in China.
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Singapore has passed its Cybersecurity Bill. JD Supra offers an analysis of the new law.
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Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security has proposed new laws that would require foreign online service providers to store data on Vietnamese users in the country, reports East Asia Forum.
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Georgia is considering a bill that would make it illegal to break into a computer system without stealing data or disrupting it, Business Insider reports.
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Government Technology reports California state Rep. Marc Levine, D-District 10, has introduced two bills aiming to protect social media data. The first would make social media companies responsible for protecting users from bots and establish a state agency to regulate the area; the second is a placeholder for a bill protecting users’ social media content and data from the company taking ownership of it.
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The Indianapolis Business Journal reports on a bill that would allow data sharing between Indiana’s education department and the Department of Child Services on foster children in order to better understand the issues that are holding them back.
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Maryland lawmakers are considering a bill to create a platform for emergency medical responders and law enforcement to share overdose data in an effort to help fight the opioid epidemic, WMDT reports.
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The Oregon Senate has unanimously approved a data breach notification bill requiring notification of a breach within 45 days of its discovery in most cases, among other provisions. The Register-Guard reports the bill now heads to the House.
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The South Dakota Supreme Court has ruled that police must obtain a warrant to require a urine sample from an arrestee, reports The Associated Press.
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A Virginia bill would require tax preparers to notify the Department of Taxation in the event of a data breach, WRIC reports. The bill has received unanimous support in the House of Delegates and from the Senate Finance Committee and now heads to the full Senate.
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ICYMI

As personal data develops into an increasingly valuable business asset, the Cayman Islands and Bermuda have responded by passing comprehensive data protection laws. In this Privacy Tracker post, Appleby’s Peter Colegate offers a look at some main provisions and recommends ways to prepare for the coming legislation.
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Timothy M. Banks, CIPP/C, CIPM, CIPT, writes for Privacy Tracker that after a months' long review, Canada’s Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics is ready to table its report, entitled “Towards Privacy by Design: A Review of Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).”
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US

Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the launch of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Cyber-Digital Task Force. The task force will cover the different ways the department fights cybersecurity threats, including interference with federal elections, the use of the internet to spread extremist ideologies, and the theft of sensitive information.
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ASIA PACIFIC

Australia’s Notifiable Data Breaches law has now gone into effect, ZDNet reports.
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Australian Information and Privacy Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim will retire March 24, ZDNet reports.
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CANADA

Lawfare announced the launch of a series of blog posts covering various sections of the C-59 surveillance bill currently debated in the Canadian Parliament.
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The Toronto Star reports on an analysis of the Privacy Act indicating it may be too “permissive” in the ways it allows the federal government to collect and use the personal data of Canadian citizens.
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British Columbia announced it will launch a public registry where all landowners within the province will need to reveal themselves, the Toronto Star reports.
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Despite having been passed more than two years ago, Ontario's Police Records Check Reform Act has yet to go into effect, the Toronto Star reports.
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EUROPE

Bloomberg reports the European Commission has rejected U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May's so-called "three baskets" plan for a post-Brexit agreement.
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The European Court of Human Rights ruled in favor of French rail operator SNCF in a case involving a terminated employee’s right to privacy, Politico reports.
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Reuters reports a Belgian court late last week threatened Facebook with a $125 million fine (approximately 100 million euros) if it continued tracking consumers on third-party websites. The case was brought by Belgium's data protection authority. The court also ruled that the social media company must delete data it gathered illegally on Belgian citizens, including non-Facebook users, the report states.
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