Lawmakers around the U.S. are moving to restrict cellphone surveillance, notably in Vermont where a bill awaiting the governor’s signature would require a warrant to use stingrays and obtain cellphone communications from providers. Also in the U.S., Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., will debut a bill this week that would undo a recent Supreme Court decision allowing judges to issue hacking warrants outside their respective jurisdictions and a FISA Amendments Act provision scheduled to expire next year is getting buzz on Capitol Hill. In Canada, federal Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien has called for an overhaul of the Privacy Act. The French government is debating a bill that includes data localization. The U.K. is preparing for the Investigatory Powers Act. Read about all this and more in this week’s Privacy Tracker legislative roundup.
LATEST NEWS
A full bench of Australia's federal court will in August rule on what constitutes personal information in the context of the country's Privacy Act, reports ITNews.
Bird & Bird writes about the U.K. Investigatory Powers Bill and what it would mean for businesses.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected this week to mark up a companion measure to the House bill updating the Email Privacy Act, reports Morning Consult.
Passcode reports on the trend of federal and state lawmakers restricting the ability of law enforcement to surveil cellphone use.
The Louisiana House has voted down a Senate-approved proposal allowing law enforcement to automatically scan license plates, reports Daily Comet.
The Vermont legislature has passed a bill that would significantly restrict police surveillance abilities. It would require police to get a warrant to use stingray devices to track phones and restrict police drone use, among other things, reports Tenth Amendment Center. The bill awaits the governor’s signature.
ICYMI
Canadian Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien announced a new sweeping, public consultation on the nature of consent and to call for an update to the “archaic” Privacy Act that covers the handling of citizen data at the IAPP Canada Privacy Symposium, reports Publications Director Sam Pfeifle in this exclusive for The Privacy Advisor.
Myriam Gufflet, CIPM, writes for Privacy Tracker about an amendment being debated by the French government that would require personal data to be stored in the European Union and prohibit the transfer of personal data to a non-EU third country.
In this exclusive for The Privacy Advisor, Denis Kelleher discusses a case headed to Europe’s top court in which the Irish data protection commissioner refused a man access to his accounting exam data. But the Irish data protection commissioner said he couldn't call the data his own "personal data."
Jared Bomberg of Hogan Lovells writes for Privacy Tracker that “Companies that monitor their employees’ emails or Internet activity now have new protections from potential allegations of wiretap violations” under the Cybersecurity Act of 2015.
U.S.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D.-Ore. will debut a bill this week that would undo the recent decision by the Supreme Court to allow judges to issue hacking warrants outside their respective jurisdictions, Morning Consult reports.
BuzzFeed reports that Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act is set to expire next year sparking debate on Capitol Hill. The provision allows the government to obtain electronic communications of foreigners located outside of the country.
The Federal Trade Commission has published new guidance to assist employment background checking agencies with Fair Credit Reporting Act compliance, the agency announced in a statement.
In an op-ed for The New York Times, the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission argues the proposed Email Privacy Act as currently drafted would deliver a major blow to the SEC’s ability to catch criminals.
A Wisconsin state appeals court has ruled that the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act doesn’t require law enforcement agencies looking to comply with open records laws to redact names from accident reports, FierceGovernmentIT reports.
ASIA PACIFIC
Linklaters Singapore has released guidance for companies using the Personal Data Protection Commission of Singapore’s recent enforcement actions against 11 companies as examples.
CANADA
The Star reports on the first person ever charged under Ontario’s new health care privacy law.