Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

Hunton’s Centre for Information Policy Leadership (“CIPL”) reports on the top privacy-related priorities for this year:

1.  Global Convergence and Interoperability between Privacy Regimes

Around the world, new privacy laws are coming into force and outdated laws continue to be updated: the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), Brazil’s Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais (“LGPD”), Thailand’s Personal Data Protection Act, India’s and Indonesia’s proposed bills, California’s Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), and the various efforts in the rest of the United States at the federal and state levels. This proliferation of privacy laws is bound to continue.

On March 12, 2020, the French Data Protection Authority (the “CNIL”) released its annual inspection strategy for 2020. The CNIL carries out approximately 300 inspections every year. These inspections are initiated (1) following complaints lodged with the CNIL; (2) in light of current topics in the news; (3) after the CNIL has adopted corrective measures (e.g., formal notices, sanctions) in order to verify whether the organization in question adopted the measures or remedied the situation; and (4) as part of the CNIL’s annual inspection strategy.

As reported by Bloomberg Law, on March 12, 2020, the Washington House and Senate were unable to reach consensus on the Washington Privacy Act.  As we reported this January, lawmakers in Washington state introduced a new version of the Washington Privacy Act, a comprehensive data privacy bill.  In the past two months, the much-discussed bill flew through the Washington Senate and House, but ultimately failed to pass.

The bill’s House version would have provided for a private right of action while the bill’s Senate version would have given sole enforcement authority to the state ...

On March 12, 2020, the Centre for Information Policy Leadership (“CIPL”), in collaboration with Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP, published its legal note, “Artificial Intelligence and Data Protection: How the GDPR Regulates AI.”

On March 11, 2020, the California Attorney General (“AG”) issued a second set of modified draft regulations implementing the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”). The AG has provided a redline to the initial modified draft regulations about which we previously reported. According to the AG’s website, the second set of modified draft regulations are subject to another public comment period. The deadline to submit written comments is March 27, 2020, at 5:00 p.m. (PST).

On March 3, 2020, the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens, the “Dutch DPA”) announced that it had imposed a €525,000 fine on the Royal Dutch Tennis Association (De Koninklijke Nederlandse Lawn Tennisbond, “KNLTB”) for an illegal sale of personal data.

On February 27, 2020, the Centre for Information Policy Leadership (“CIPL”) at Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP published the second report in its project on Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) and Data Protection: Delivering Sustainable AI Accountability in Practice.

On March 4, 2020, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) fined the international airline Cathay Pacific Airways Limited (“Cathay Pacific”) £500,000 for failing to protect the security of its customers’ personal data. The fine was issued under the Data Protection Act 1998 (the “DPA”) and represents the maximum fine available. The ICO found that between October 2014 and May 2018, Cathay Pacific’s computer systems lacked appropriate security measures which led to customers’ personal details being exposed. Of the approximately 9.4 million customers affected worldwide, 111,578 were from the UK.

On February 24, 2020, the European Data Protection Board (“EDPB”) published general policy messages and a synthesis of the contributions and replies by its members - national data protection authorities (“DPAs”) - to the Questionnaire on the Evaluation of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) sent by the European Commission (the “Contribution”).

On March 2, 2020, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) fined CRDNN Limited, a lead generation company, £500,000—the maximum amount available for a breach of the Electronic Communications Regulations (“PECR”). The fine was imposed after CRDNN carried out over 193 million unsolicited automated direct marketing calls relating to window scrappage, window and conservatory sales, boiler sales, and debt management between June and October 2018.