Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

On April 4, 2017, the Article 29 Working Party (the “Working Party”) adopted an Opinion on the Proposed Regulation of the European Commission for the ePrivacy Regulation (the “Proposed ePrivacy Regulation”). The Proposed ePrivacy Regulation is intended to replace the ePrivacy Directive and to increase harmonization of ePrivacy rules in the EU. A regulation is directly applicable in all EU Member States, while a directive requires transposition into national law. 

On April 5, 2017, the Article 29 Working Party (“Working Party”) adopted the final versions of its guidelines (the “Guidelines”) on the right to data portability, Data Protection Officers (“DPOs”) and Lead Supervisory Authority (“SA”), which were first published for comment in December 2016. The final publication of these revised guidelines follows the public consultation which ended in February 2017.

The Cybersecurity Law of China, which was passed in November of 2016, introduced a data localization requirement requiring “operators of key information infrastructure” to retain, within China, critical data and personal information which they collect or generate in the course of operating their business in China. If an entity has a genuine need resulting from a business necessity to transmit critical data or personal information to a destination outside of China, it can do so provided it undergoes a “security assessment.”

On April 3, 2017, President Trump signed a bill which nullifies the Broadband Consumer Privacy Rules (the "Rules") promulgated by the FCC in October 2016. The Rules largely had not yet taken effect. In a statement, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai praised the elimination of the Rules, noting that, “in order to deliver that consistent and comprehensive protection, the Federal Communications Commission will be working with the Federal Trade Commission to restore the FTC’s authority to police Internet service providers’ privacy practices.” ...

Haim Ravia and Dotan Hammer of Pearl Cohen Zedek Latzer Baratz recently published an article outlining Israel’s new Protection of Privacy Regulations (“Regulations”), passed by the Knesset on March 21, 2017. The Regulations will impose mandatory comprehensive data security and breach notification requirements on anyone who owns, manages or maintains a database containing personal data in Israel.

The Regulations will become effective in late March 2018.

Read Pearl Cohen’s full article.

In March 2017, Syed Ahmad, a partner with Hunton & Williams LLP’s insurance practice, and Eileen Garczynski, partner at insurance brokerage Ames & Gough, co-authored an article, Protecting Company Assets with Cyber Liability Insurance, in Mealey’s Data Privacy Law Report. The article describes why cyber liability insurance is necessary for companies and provides tips on how it can make a big difference. Ahmad and Garczynski discuss critical questions companies seeking to protect company assets through cyber insurance should be asking.

Read the full article.

Recently, Virginia passed an amendment to its data breach notification law that adds state income tax information to the types of data that require notification to the Virginia Office of the Attorney General in the event of unauthorized access and acquisition of such data. Under the amended law, an employer or payroll service provider must notify the Virginia Office of the Attorney General after the discovery or notification of unauthorized access and acquisition of unencrypted and unredacted computerized data containing a Virginia resident’s taxpayer identification number in combination with the income tax withheld for that taxpayer. 

On March 28, 2017, the French Data Protection Authority (“CNIL”) published its Annual Activity Report for 2016 (the “Report”) and released its annual inspection program for 2017.

On April 5, 2017, Hunton & Williams LLP and Stroz Friedberg will host a webinar on managing privacy and data security risks before, during and after an M&A transaction. Join Lisa J. Sotto, partner and chair of Global Privacy and Cybersecurity at Hunton & Williams; Rocco Grillo, Cyber Resilience Global Leader from Stroz Friedberg; and Keith O’Sullivan, CISO from Time Inc., for a discussion on how to prepare for and understand privacy and data security challenges in the context of corporate transactions.

On March 21, 2017, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced that the New York Office of the Attorney General received over 1,300 data breach notifications in 2016, a 60 percent increase from 2015. The reported breaches led to the exposure of personal information of 1.6 million New York residents. According to the Attorney General’s report, 46 percent of the exposed personal information consisted of Social Security numbers, and 35 percent consisted of financial account information. Attorney General Schneiderman cited the updated New York State Department of ...