France’s Lower House has passed a surveillance bill that some claim will give the government intrusive domestic spying abilities with little oversight, and Italy’s data protection authority has released a cookie compliance deadline and max fine amounts. Meanwhile, Jan Philipp Albrecht is predicting no passage of a General Data Protection Regulation this year. Also in this week’s Privacy Tracker global legislative roundup, read about China’s new draft legislation that would create national Internet and information-security safeguard systems. In the U.S., bills have been introduced at the federal level addressing “back doors” for government surveillance, student privacy, data from vehicle event recorders, cybersecurity and breach notification.

LATEST NEWS

FierceHealthIT reports a group of Democratic U.S. Senators have introduced the Consumer Privacy Protection Act of 2015, which “calls for a comprehensive approach to data security by requiring companies to take preventative steps to defend against cyberattacks and prevent data breaches and to quickly notify customers in the event a data breach occurs."

Reps. Luke Messer (R-IN) and Jared Polis (D-CO) have introduced the Student Digital Privacy and Parental Rights Act, and it has gained the support of more than 20 education, parent, privacy and industry groups.

Sens. John Hoeven (R-ND) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) have again introduced the Driver Privacy Act, which would give ownership of “black box” data to vehicle owners, reports KXNET.

Reps. Randy Neugebauer (R-TX) and John Carney (D-DE) have introduced the Data Security Act of 2015, which aims to protect consumers from identity theft, The Ripon Advance reports.

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe has signed a social media privacy billthat prohibits employers from requiring potential and current employees to hand over login credentials to personal online accounts, Lexology reports.

ICYMI

U.S.

Wired reports that a panel of 11th Circuit Court judges has overturned the ruling in U.S. v. Davis. The new ruling says that because Davis's phone location data was the property of the phone carrier, he had no expectation of privacy, and the police who were tracking him didn't need a warrant.

CANADA

The Huffington Post Canada reports Bill C-51 passed the House of Commons by a vote of 183 to 96 and now heads to the Senate for final passage. The government is expected to give royal assent within weeks, the report states.

Ontario's Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) "has seen zero successful prosecutions since it came into force over a decade ago,"The Star reports, noting privacy experts point to PHIPA's "complicated and drawn-out prosecution process" as the reason.

EU

The lower house of the French Parliament has overwhelmingly increased surveillance measures"that could give the authorities their most intrusive domestic spying abilities ever, with almost no judicial oversight," The New York Times reports.

Rocco Panetta writes that the president of Italy’s data protection authority, the Garante, has announced the deadline and maximum fine amount for cookie compliance in this Global Privacy Dispatch for The Privacy Advisor.

UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg called for a new Digital Bill of Rights to be introduced within six months of the new Parliament, The Telegraph reports.

The Parliament Magazine reports that European Parliament Rapporteur Jan Philipp Albrecht has indicated the General Data Protection Regulation is not likely to be adopted by the end of the year, and he blames the current “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed” approach.

ASIA PACIFIC

Reuters reports draft legislation proposed by the standing committee of China’s National People's Congress would include a "cyberspace 'sovereignty' clause"and the establishment of national Internet and information-security safeguard systems.

Australian Privacy Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim "has ruled that metadata is personal, finding that Telstra must hand over information it holds about a journalist, two years after he exercised his legal right to see his personal metadata," ABC reports.