In this week’s Privacy Tracker weekly legislative roundup, read about privacy advocates’ victory over surveillance legislation in Paraguay, the USA FREEDOM Act and updates on the proposed EU General Data Protection Regulation and Safe Harbor. Also in the EU, Italy’s new cookie rules are in effect; the French CNIL has released its plans for the upcoming year of enforcement, and the UK is moving closer to the passage of the Investigatory Powers Bill. In the U.S., legislators are pushing for stronger privacy protections in Oregon with a student privacy bill, in New York with a drivers’ privacy bill, in Connecticut and Illinois with bills strengthening consumer protections and in California with CalECPA.
LATEST NEWS
The New Zealand Parliament has unanimously backed the Electronic Monitoring of Offenders Legislation Bill, which would allow courts to impose electronic monitoring for certain criminal offenders, reports The New Zealand Herald.
Paraguay voted down a controversial surveillance bill that would have required phone and Internet service providers to collect and store customer traffic information for a year, reports PanAm Post.
The Guardian offers a run down on the UK’s proposed surveillance bill, the Investigatory Powers Bill.
TechCrunch takes a look at COPPA and the future of U.S. legislation that aims to protect kids onlineby featuring the Do Not Track Kids Act of 2015.
A bill increasing the breadth of information that constitutes a data breach and strengthens breach notification has passed both chambers of the Illinois legislatureand awaits consideration from the governor, reports The Chicago Tribune.
A bill in the New York Senate would limit the state department of Motor Vehicles to sell drivers’ information, reports WWNYTV.
The New York City Council has passed a law making it illegal for employers to check applicants’ credit historyfor hiring purposes, reports New York Injury News.
Oregon Public Broadcasting reports the state attorney general is supporting a bill that aims to prohibit software vendors from advertising to or collecting and retaining data from students.
ICYMI
Timothy Banks, CIPP/C, of Dentons Canada, explains the requirements that prevent data from leaving Canada in this Privacy Tracker blog post.
GLOBAL
The New York Department of Financial Services has issued new rules that place restrictions on financial firms wanting to use virtual currencies, The Hill reports.
U.S.
President Barack Obama signed into law the USA FREEDOM Act. Jedidiah Bracy, CIPP/E, CIPP/US, writes for The Privacy Advisor about this “first major national security reform in the U.S. since the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001.”
Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee have asked car developers and the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration how they are planning to protect drivers from security breaches affecting cutting-edge car amenities, The Washington Post reports.
The recent sentencing of two individuals in Alaska to 10 and two years in prison, respectively, illustrates the power of the HITECH provision and that HIPAA crimes have serious consequences in the eyes of the law, Gov Info Security reports.
The California Senate moved unanimously to approve the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act, or Cal-ECPA, a bill that prohibits law enforcement from seizing digital documents without a search warrant, Silicon Angle reports.
The Connecticut General Assembly has tightened the state's data breach laws to include both a 90-day deadline by which breaches must be reported as well as a year of free identity theft protection for victims whose Social Security numbers were unlawfully shared, Government Technology reports.
The New York Times reports on what is thought to be the first case tried under a law preventing employers and insurers from discriminating against people whose genetic information indicates increased risks for costly diseases.
CANADA
The Canadian government is moving to increase its ability "to collect biometric information on visitors to Canada,"CBC News reports, and that's "giving rise to privacy concerns and calls for closer scrutiny."
EU
Groupe PPEreleased a timetable for finishing up the European Parliament's data protection reform, including an agenda for the highly anticipated trilogue process.
In this post for Privacy Perspectives, Hogan Lovells PartnerEduardo Ustaran, CIPP/E, breaks down the remaining hurdles the proposed EU General Data Protection Regulation and offers his predictionsin this final stretch.
The Article 29 Working Party published new guidance on data processor BCRs, the significance of which "cannot be overstated," writes Phil Lee, CIPP/E, for Privacy and Information Law Blog.
In this post for Privacy Perspectives, a preview of their more in-depth whitepaper, Profs. Lokke Moerel and Corien Prins argue the latest version of the General Data Protection Regulation Council version "is the only feasible way to guarantee" personal data protection in an era of big data and the Internet of Things.
In a blog post for Hogan Lovells' Chronicle of Data Protection,Eduardo Ustaran, CIPP/E, examines the much-discussed one-stop-shop proposal.
Data Guidance reports France's Data Protection Authority, the CNIL, has promised a focus on "contactless payments, Binding Corporate Rules and wellness and health devices and services" in the coming year, and it plans to inspect 550 organizations in 2015, Hunton & Williams' Privacy and Information Security Law Blog reports.
Italy’s new cookie policies came into effect last week, Telecompaper reports.
MPs Tom Watson and David Davis, with civil rights group Liberty, will petition the UK High Court in opposition to the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act, a measure that enabled the UK government to have "more surveillance power and Internet control" and allegedly competes with the European Convention on Human Rights, International Business Times reports.
ASIA PACIFIC
In a move to protect privacy and physical safety, the Japanese government plans to mandate a license to fly drones in "densely populated residential areas," as well as a measure that prohibits their use at night, The Asahi Shimbun reports.