Global News Roundup—October 5-12, 2015

In this week’s Privacy Tracker global privacy legislative roundup, read about the European Court of Justice’s ruling in the Schrems case and whether Brazil plans to give up “depending digital rights.” Also, Australia’s the U.S. Senate is expected to bring the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act to the floor in the weeks ahead. And, there’s more on states’ actions, including the signing of CalECPA, details on Florida’s new bill on social media privacy and the Delaware Online Privacy and Protection, which requires companies to state in writing if they honor do-not-track requests.

Latest News

In Brazil’s Congress, the Lower House “is considering a bill that would double penalties for libel and defamatory speech when they occur online and dissolve protections for communications privacy in criminal investigations,” Slate reports.

The U.S. Senate is expected to bring the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act to the floor following this week’s recess, Federal News Radio reports, “but if discussion among industry, agencies and Congress is any indication, consensus over what that legislation will look like won’t come easily.”

Delaware has passed the Delaware Online Privacy and Protection Act, which requires online operators “to conspicuously post a privacy policy identifying the personally identifiable information it collects on users and how it responds to do-not-track signals,” JD Supra reports.

Florida Sen. Jeff Clemens has sponsored a bill in that state to protect social media passwords, NBC2 reports.

ICYMI

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) was very straightforward in announcing that it has sided with Austrian law student Max Schrems in its ruling last week, and in this exclusive for The Privacy Advisor,IAPP Publications Director Sam Pfeifle examines where the ECJ's ruling leaves other European Commission-generated findings for data transfer and what's next.

IAPP Westin Fellow Anna Myers offers an analysis of the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act for Privacy Tracker.

UK Information Commissioner Christopher Graham has some advice to those left anxious following the European Court of Justice's Safe Harbor ruling: "Don't panic,” The Privacy Advisor reports.

FTC v. Wyndham Worldwide Corp may be just "one example of the FTC's recent move to fill the vacuum left by Congressional inaction related to data security oversight and the perceived inability of traditional civil litigation to alter security behavior," Seth Northrop writes in this exclusive for The Privacy Advisor, but it is "widely considered the litmus test for whether the FTC's expansion into data security practices would hold."

The Privacy Advisor reports on the audio conference "A World Without Safe Harbor," sharing insights, analysis and predictions from Hogan Lovells' Eduardo Ustaran, CIPP/E, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati's Christopher Kuner, the Center for Democracy & Technology's Nuala O'Connor, CIPP/G, CIPP/US, and Baker & McKenzie's Brian Hengesbaugh, CIPP/US, with moderation by the IAPP's Omer Tene.
writes

Privacy Partnership's Senior Partner Nicola Regan, CIPP/E, argues in this post for Privacy Perspectives why the absence of a Safe Harbor framework is actually bad for the privacy of European citizens.

In this report for The Privacy Advisor, Denis Kelleher discusses what is next for the Schrems case, noting it is possible the case will go back to the Irish High Court to hear arguments, or it could be settled following an investigation by Ireland’s Office of the Data Protection Commissioner.

U.S.

California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed into law the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act, Wired reports, which makes California "the first (state) to enact a comprehensive law protecting location data, content, metadata and device searches," the ACLU of California’s Nicole Ozer said.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) is renewing calls for passing the Judicial Redress Act, The Hill reports. The bill, upon which the EU-U.S. Umbrella Agreement is partially predicated, would extend some data privacy rights to European citizens in the U.S.

Three lawmakers want answers from Experian on the recent data breach affecting up to 15 million T-Mobile customers, The Hill reports.

The House of Representatives has passed a bill "demanding that the Department of Homeland Security develop a formal cybersecurity strategy," Press TV reports.

California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a first-in-the-nation bill mandating that smart televisions provide users with prominent notice during the initial setup that voice recognition technology is being used, KRON reports.