In this week's Privacy Tracker global legislative roundup, read about how Belgium, France and Ireland issued reports on activity since the EU General Data Protection Regulation came into force. In Serbia, a new data protection law was enacted and is set to take force Aug. 21, 2019. The data protection authority of Baden-Württemberg administered the first fine in Germany for GDPR violations, while Dutch and U.K authorities fined Uber for a 2016 data breach. In Australia, Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus says his party cannot back the Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Bill. In the U.S., lawmakers called once again for federal legislation to protect consumer data and hold companies accountable for data protection.
LATEST NEWS
With Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus saying his party cannot back the Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Bill, the Australian Labor Party is set to break with the traditional bipartisanship in the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, ZDNet reports.
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According to a plan seen by Politico's Janosch Delcker, the European Union wants to spend 1.5 billion euros between 2021 and 2027 on infrastructure to test artificial intelligence.
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Responding to the recent Marriott data breach, lawmakers in the U.S. called for federal legislation to protect consumer data and hold companies accountable for data protection, CNET reports.
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ICYMI
In an article for The Privacy Advisor, IAPP Associate Editor Ryan Chiavetta, CIPP/US, writes that all five FTC commissioners spoke in front of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, Insurance and Data Security to discuss whether the agency has enough resources to do its job and the prospect of a federal U.S. privacy law.
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US
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra offered a warning about a potential federal U.S. privacy law that would preempt state rules such as the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, Reuters reports.
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An annual report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General identified protecting HHS’ data and systems and advancing cybersecurity efforts as a top challenge facing the agency, BankInfoSecurity reports.
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Responding to a CLOUD Act provision, nine organizations sent a letter of opposition to the U.S. Department of Justice, The Intercept reports.
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In a letter addressed to U.S. Federal Trade Commission Chairman Joe Simons, privacy organizations accused the FTC of siding with the advertising industry as part of an initiative to update consumer data protections under President Donald Trump, Bloomberg reports.
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A 13-count indictment was unsealed in U.S. federal court, charging eight defendants with fraud, computer intrusion, aggravated identity theft, and money laundering for their part in a widespread digital advertising fraud.
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ASIA-PACIFIC
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Australia’s federal government is being asked to redraft the country’s encryption bill to protect press freedom, as concerns mount over how authorities could gain more power to track individuals without a warrant.
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New Zealand Privacy Commissioner John Edwards urged the government to increase funding in order to support the new Privacy Bill, Stuff reports.
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In a submission to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the European Commission said India’s proposed data localization requirements would likely carry “unnecessary costs, difficulties and uncertainties that could hamper business and investments,” The Economic Times reports.
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CANADA
The Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers’ Association wants the Supreme Court of Canada to determine whether the salaries of public servants within the province should be available to the public, CBC News reports.
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EUROPE
According to a Hunton Andrews Kurth Privacy & Information Security Law Blog post, the Belgian Data Protection Authority published an activity review since the EU General Data Protection Regulation came into force.
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The Dutch data protection authority, the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens, fined Uber for violations related to its 2016 data breach.
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France’s data protection authority, the CNIL, released a report on the first six months of the GDPR.
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The German Parliament, the Bundestag, has named Social Democratic Party of Germany Member and former Justice Secretary of State Ulrich Kelber as the new federal data protection commissioner, Handelsblatt reports.
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The data protection authority of Baden-Württemberg administered the first fine in Germany for violations of the EU General Data Protection Regulation, according to a blog post from Hogan Lovells' Chronicle of Data Protection.
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Ireland’s Data Protection Commission released a report on its efforts from the first five months of 2018.
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Hunton Andrews Kurth's Privacy & Information Security Law Blog reports on Serbia’s new data protection law, which was enacted Nov. 9 and takes effect Aug. 21, 2019.
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The U.K. Information Commissioner's Office has fined a former trainee secretary at Fakenham Medical Practice after she admitted to the illicit access of 231 medical records.
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The U.K. Information Commissioner’s Office has issued fines to companies for their failure to pay data protection fees established under the Data Protection (Charges and Information) Regulations 2018, a bill that went into effect to coincide with the EU General Data Protection Regulation.
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The U.K. Information Commissioner’s Office fined Uber for violations related to its 2016 data breach.
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MIDDLE EAST
A legal opinion out of Israel’s Privacy Protection Authority issued Nov. 28 said that businesses with at least 10,000 electronic contacts are required to follow the country’s data security and privacy protection laws for those lists, Bloomberg Law reports.
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