The new year for EU data protection enforcement has rung in with an early bang courtesy of the France's data protection authority, the Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés. The CNIL fined Google and Facebook up to a combined 210 million euros for alleged cookie violations under the ePrivacy Directive. Allegations against the companies focus on French users' inability to easily decline tracking via cookies. Google's U.S. and Irish operations received penalties of up to 90 and 6... Read More

The Centre for Information Policy Leadership released recommendations on the draft e-Privacy Regulation as part of trilogue discussions. Among its comments, CIPL said the regulation should be consistent with the EU General Data Protection Regulation, fill in gaps of the GDPR related to electronic communication data and designate data protection authorities as sole regulators. It also notes a ban on cookie walls and consent for cookies at the browser level should be removed. CIPL also published a... Read More

In documents submitted to the European Commission, Google said it supports a temporary derogation from the ePrivacy Directive to combat the "sexual exploitation of children online," Euractiv reports. In its comments on the commission's consultation on the topic, Google also supports the creation of a center to help with law enforcement and prevention on an EU level. ZDNet reports Google voiced its support for a new security standard for smartphone virtual private network applications.Full Story... Read More

After years of legislative limbo, the draft ePrivacy Regulation is alive and kicking after ambassadors from the Council of the European Union agreed on a negotiating mandate. The move, led by the Portuguese Presidency in the Council, allows negotiations with the European Parliament to move forward, as part of the "trilogue" process.  "The path to the Council position has not been easy," Portuguese Minister for Infrastructure and Housing and President of the Council Pedro Nuno Santos said, "but ... Read More