Global News Roundup—September 15-22, 2014

The new president of the European Commission has voiced his desire to see further reforms in data protection; in the U.S., legislators are considering bills aimed at protecting student privacy and tackling questions surrounding overseas data, and in Australia, Parliament is considering changes to security laws. Plus, New Hampshire’s social media privacy law goes into effect at the end of the month, and Texas is having a second look at its cell-phone privacy law. Read about these topics and more in his week’s Privacy Tracker weekly legislative roundup.

LATEST NEWS

Human Resources News reports on New Hampshire’s social media privacy law that goes into effect on September 30.

Star-Telegram reports police addressed the Texas legislature saying that changes to cell-phone privacy hamper their ability to catch criminals and noting there should be a lower bar for access to some data.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has struck down a law making it illegal to take photos of individuals in public without their permission and for the purpose of sexual gratification, saying it violates free speech, reports International Business Times.

An article in NextGov asks the question, “Why is it so difficult for governments to establish proper legislation about security and privacy?”

ICYMI

The Hogan Lovells privacy team writes for Privacy Tracker about the incoming tide of student privacy legislation, noting it "should be a wake-up call for all privacy professionals."

U.S.

The Washington Post reports on the Law Enforcement Access To Data Stored Abroad Act, aimed at providing greater legal protection for emails held by U.S. service providers overseas.

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) has requested a hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on the causes and effects of a breach at Community Health Systems reported last month, FierceHealthIT reports.

Government Technology reports on the 110 bills on student data privacy that were introduced in 36 states this session, with 24 being signed into law.

Yahoo is criticizing a new law that gives "executors charged with carrying out the instructions in a person's will broad access to their online accounts," PCWorld reports.

Yelp has agreed to settle charges brought against it by the Federal Trade Commission and pay $450,000 for accepting registrations from children under the age of 13 in its apps, PCWorld reports.

An Illinois federal judge has thrown out a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging Neiman Marcus Group negligently failed to protect 350,000 customers' credit card information prior to a 2013 hack into the department store's servers, Law360 reports.

CANADA

Ontario Acting Information and Privacy Commissioner Brian Beamish is scheduled to speak before a Toronto appeals court in December as it "determines whether to allow a $5.6 million class-action suit over breached medical records in Peterborough to go ahead," myKawartha.com reports.

EU

Bloomberg reportsEU privacy regulators are meeting to determine how Google should handle requests from citizens who want links to certain websites removed and are working on guidelines for how Internet search engines should respond to removal requests.

Out-Law.com reports on new European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker's comments that "further reforms should be pursued, from possibly as early as next year" to the EU's Privacy and Electronic Communications (e-Privacy) Directive, which was last reformed in 2009.

The European Commission has announced its shortlist of candidates for the European data protection supervisor and assistant supervisor positions in a letter to the secretaries-general.

Swedish ISP Bahnhof has asked the European Commission to intervene saying the Swedish data retention law "continues to breach European Union rules,"PCWorld reports.

Human Rights Watch is alleging a new Internet law will "deepen existing Internet censorship in Turkey, increase surveillance of Internet users and violate privacy,"Hurriyet Daily News reports.

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that a French government practice of holding "private information in a crime database for 20 years when charges against that person have been dropped violates privacy rights," PCWorld reports.

ASIA PACIFIC

"Parliament is about to consider a range of changes to Australia's security laws," UNSW Australia's Keiran Hardy writes for The Conversation, noting, "The most controversial measures … include stronger anti-whistleblower provisions and a 'special intelligence operations' regime that would grant ASIO officers immunity from civil and criminal liability."

The Gazette of Law and Journalism interviews Prof. Barbara McDonald on the Australian Law Reform Commission's report, Serious Invasions of Privacy in the Digital Era.

Queensland's Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee has repeated its year-old request for a permanent privacy commissioner, noting, it has "no concerns about the skill level and ability of the persons temporarily acting in the role of Privacy Commissioner" but worries about the long-term direction of the office absent a permanent privacy chief, ITNews reports.