Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

As we move closer to implementation of the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”), companies should consider how the new law could affect their operations in multiple ways – including, for example, data collected through their employee benefit plans.

On January 10, 2019, Advocate General Maciej Szpunar (“Advocate General”) of the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) issued an Opinion in the case of Google v. CNIL, which is currently pending before the CJEU. In the Opinion, the Advocate General provided his views concerning the territorial scope of the right to be forgotten under the relevant EU Data Protection Directive in the case at hand.

As we previously reported in February 2017, an Illinois federal judge denied a motion to dismiss two complaints brought under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, 740 ILCS 14 (“BIPA”) by individuals who alleged that Google captured, without plaintiff’s consent, biometric data from facial scans of images that were uploaded onto Google Photos. The cases subsequently were consolidated, and on December 29, 2018, the Northern District of Illinois dismissed the case on standing grounds, finding that despite the existence of statutory standing under BIPA, neither plaintiff had claimed any injury that would support Article III standing.

On January 10, 2019, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed legislation amending the state’s data breach law. The amendments take effect on April 11, 2019.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) recently announced the publication of “Health Industry Cybersecurity Practices: Managing Threats and Protecting Patients” (the “Cybersecurity Practices”). The Cybersecurity Practices were developed by the Healthcare & Public Health Sector Coordinating Councils Public Private Partnership, a group comprised of over 150 cybersecurity and healthcare experts from government and private industry.

On October 22, 2018, the Centre for Information Policy Leadership (“CIPL”) at Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP co-hosted a workshop in Brussels on “Can GDPR Work for Health Scientific Research?” (the “Workshop”) with the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (“EFPIA”) and the Future of Privacy Forum (“FPF”) to address the challenges raised by the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) in conducting scientific health research.

On November 30, 2018, the Austrian Data Protection Authority (“DPA”) published a decision in response to a complaint received from an individual regarding the cookie consent options offered on an Austrian newspaper’s website. As a factual matter, the Austrian newspaper offered three options to individuals who sought to access content on the site: (1) accept the use of cookies for analytics and advertising purposes and have full, complimentary website access; (2) refuse cookies and obtain access to only limited content on the website; or (3) pay a monthly subscription of €6 to obtain full access to the website without accepting the use of cookies and similar tracking technologies.

The California Department of Justice will host six public forums on the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”) to provide the general public an opportunity to participate in the CCPA rulemaking process. Individuals may attend or speak at the events or submit written comments by email to privacyregulations@doj.ca.gov or by mail to the California Department of Justice, ATTN: Privacy Regulations Coordinator, 300 S. Spring St., Los Angeles, CA 90013.

On December 27, 2018, the French Data Protection Authority (the “CNIL”) announced that it imposed a fine of €250,000 on French telecom operator Bouygues Telecom for failing to protect the personal data of the customers of its mobile package B&YOU.

On December 28, 2018, the French Data Protection Authority (the “CNIL”) published guidance regarding the conditions to be met by organizations in order to lawfully share personal data with business partners or other third parties, such as data brokers. The guidance focused, in particular, on such a scenario in the context of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). The CNIL guidance sets forth the 5 following conditions: