Author Archives: Sophie Stalla-Bourdillon

Access to data / content data / Data protection / Data retention / Internet intermediaries / ISPs / mass surveillance / metadata / national security

The CJEU in Tele2 Sverige: are general(ised) data retention obligations incompatible with EU law?

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Christmas was particularly festive for privacy advocates with the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) judgement in the joint cases C‑203/15 Tele2 Sverige AB v Postoch telestyrelsen and C‑698/15 Secretary of State for the Home Department v Secretary of State for the Home Department and the leak of the European Commission’s upgraded version … Continue reading →

audiovisual media services / content regulation / Copyright / hate speech

Video-sharing platform services and media services : what is the link between the new AVMSD and the old ECD?

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The regulation of digital content seems to be at a turning point. Based on the premise that the Internet of 2016, or should I say 2017, has nothing to do with the Internet of the 2000s, the European Commission (EC) has decided to act and released in May and in September this year two key … Continue reading →

content regulation / Copyright / Intellectual Property / Internet intermediaries / liability

AG CAMPOS SÁNCHEZ-BORDONA in Stichting Brein: what is the link between GS Media and Article 15 ECD?

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      The Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU)’s Advocate General (AG) Campos Sanchez-Bordona issued his opinion yesterday in the case C‑527/15 Stichting Brein v Jack Frederik Wullems, acting under the name of Filmspeler, which is again a case involving the infamous right to communicate copyright works to the public. Very briefly, the … Continue reading →

Access to data / anonymisation / Data protection / Data transfer / de-identification / General Data Protection Regulation / pseudonymisation / Risk-based approach

A call for a common techno-legal language to speak about anonymisation, pseudonymisation, de-identification… Could this be one of the biggest challenges brought about by the GDPR?

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  The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will be applicable in less than two years and lawyers as well as others are trying to grapple with definitional issues. The graduated approach that would have meant alleviating the regime of certain categories of data such as pseudonymised data (e.g. by eliminating the need to comply with … Continue reading →

anonymisation / consent / Data protection / Data retention / Personal data / Risk-based approach

CJEU in Breyer: Dynamic IP addresses will (very?) often be personal data and German Law is too restrictive! Okay but how shall we care about voluntary and systematic retention of logs?

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  And here is delivered by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) another landmark judgment: C‑582/14 Breyer v Bundesrepublik Deutschland concerning the proper characterisation of IP addresses and the compatibility of German national law with Article 7(f) of the Data Protection Directive (DPD). The judgement is not available in English yet, but … Continue reading →

Access to data / Data protection / IP Bill / mass surveillance / metadata / national security / Surveillance / terrorism

The IPT in Privacy International v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs: Is it saying the IPB should be welcome?

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The investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) delivered its judgment yesterday in the case Privacy International v. Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs et al. The skeleton arguments for the claimants and respondents can be accessed here. In a nutshell and as recalled by para. 3 of the judgement: “The proceedings were brought on 5th June … Continue reading →

content regulation / Copyright / filtering / Internet intermediaries / Privacy / safe harbour

Open Letter to the European Commission – On the Importance of Preserving the Consistency and Integrity of the EU Acquis Relating to Content Monitoring within the Information Society

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This is not just another post on the proposed Copyright Directive released on 14 September 2016 (Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on copyright in the Digital Single Market discussed in my previous post here) and others hard and/or soft law initiatives coming from the European Commission (see for … Continue reading →

anonymisation / big data / Data protection / General Data Protection Regulation / ICO / Personal data / Privacy / pseudonymisation / research / Risk-based approach / sensitive data

The First-Tier Tribunal and the anonymisation of clinical trial data: a reasoned expression of Englishness…. which would have to be abandoned with the GDPR?

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The Queen Mary University of London v (1) The Information Commissioner and (2) Alem Matthees, EA/2015/0269 case decided by the First-Tier Tribunal (Information Rights) (FTT(IR)) on 12 August 2016 is a fascinating decision. [Could it be a stylish expression of Englishness…. or otherness?] The case-facts concern a freedom of information request for clinical trial patient data … Continue reading →

content regulation / Copyright / illegal content / immunities / Internet intermediaries / ISPs / notice-and-take down / safe harbour

The CJEU rules on free access to wireless local area networks in McFadden: The last(?) shudder of Article 15 ECD, the vanishing of effective remedies, and a big farewell to free Wi-Fi!

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Let us now turn to the last intellectual work of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the field of copyright and intermediary liability [it is indeed really difficult to get rid of them!] which was released today: Case C‑484/14 Tobias Mc Fadden v Sony Music Entertainment Germany GmbH. Once again, the … Continue reading →

content regulation / Copyright / filtering / illegal content / immunities / Intellectual Property / Internet intermediaries

Article 15(1) ECD is dead! Long live Article 15(2) ECD! Or how the European Commission stroke the last blow to the ECD safe harbours with its proposed copyright Directive!

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  So here we are, never 2 without 3. After the proposed Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AMSD), and the Code of Conduct on countering illegal hate speech, here comes the proposed Directive on copyright in the Digital Single Market! This proposed Directive contains 24 Articles and touches upon hotly debated and controversial issues, such as … Continue reading →