Author Archives: Sophie Stalla-Bourdillon

Access to data / content data / Data protection / Data retention / deep packet inspection / ISPs / Law enforcement / metadata / Personal data / Privacy / Surveillance

The Draft IP Bill and data retention obligations: on the irony of the invalidation of the Data Retention Directive

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The Draft Investigatory Powers (IP) Bill was published on the 4th of November. It aims to “govern the use and oversight of investigatory powers by law enforcement and the security and intelligence agencies” in the UK. It is an attempt both to simplify the legal framework and legalise practices, which means it is, in part, … Continue reading →

Data protection / data protection agencies / Privacy / safe harbour

DPAs or national supervisory authorities and the CJEU in Schrems: what does it mean to “engage in legal proceedings”?

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The CJEU has definitely been very bold in its recent decision in Schrems v Data Protection Commissioner. While the judgement of the CJEU is more convincing than the opinion of the Advocate General (see my posts here and here), it is obviously not perfect. [But I wonder, perhaps naively: shouldn’t the CJEU’s decision be seen … Continue reading →

Data protection / Internet intermediaries / Privacy / Surveillance

Weber, DRI and Schrems: so what are “measures of mass surveillance”? And what should we do with them? A tale of 2 Courts

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While the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in its recent judgment Schrems v Data Protection Commissioner (discussed here), does not mention the words “measures of mass surveillance” it states that it is concerned about measures “authoris[ing], on a generalised basis, storage of all the personal data of all the persons”. By way … Continue reading →

Data protection / Data transfer / safe harbour

The CJEU in Schrems v Data Protection Commissioner: Commission Decision 2000/520 is invalid!

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Here we are: less than 2 weeks after the issuance of the opinion of the Advocate General (AG) Bot in the case Schrems v Data Protection Commissioner (see my post here) the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) declared today that the US-EU safe harbour framework was invalid! While this is definitely one … Continue reading →

Data protection / Privacy / safe harbour / Surveillance

AG Bot on Schrems v DP Commissioner: does the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights really go beyond the ECHR?

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Advocate General (AG) Bot delivered his awaited opinion on 23 September 2015 in the case C-362/14 Maximillian Schrems v Data Protection Commissioner. As readers might remember (see my previous post here), the Irish High Court had made a reference for a preliminary ruling back in 2014. [For background, talented Austrian Facebook user, Maximillian Schrems complained … Continue reading →

anonymisation / General Data Protection Regulation / Personal data

A German view of the Council’s proposed General Data Protection Regulation: let’s try one more time… by the way what do we do with Browser-Generated Information?

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The Council of the European Union released its version of the Proposed Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (General Data Protection Regulation or ‘GDPR’) on 11 June 2015, as mentioned by … Continue reading →

illegal content / Internet intermediaries

Internet intermediaries: How are you? What do you do? What the European Commission has to say

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While waiting to discuss with representatives of the European Commission at the first iCLIC Conference this week the implications of its Digital Single Market Strategy for Europe – as well as waiting for the issuing of the Commission’s forthcoming ‘public consultation on the regulatory environment for platforms, online intermediaries, data and cloud computing and the … Continue reading →

Access to data / Internet intermediaries / Surveillance / terrorism

What if the French constitutional judges had read the Davis Judgement? Would we be living in a better world?

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The French Constitutional Court (Conseil Constitutionnel) issued its decision n°2015-713 DC on the recently adopted Law on intelligence on 23 July 2015. Reading its decision after having read the Davis judgment of the English High Court, one wonders whether legal syllogism has suddenly been replaced by useless tautology. The newly adopted law on intelligence is … Continue reading →

Data protection / Data retention / Surveillance

The Davis judgement: does Article 8 of the European Charter go beyond Article 8 of the ECHR?

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Here we are! The last episode of the UK saga “and what do we do with data retention laws” has been issued by the English High Court, with its judgement in the case David Davis MP, Tom Watson MP, Peter Brice, Geoffrey Lewis v The Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] EWHC 2092 … Continue reading →

Data protection / Privacy / Surveillance

The new judgement of the UK Supreme Court on the scope of Article 8 ECHR or why Lord Kerr is right…

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In its recent judgement of 1 July 2015 In the matter of an application by JR38 for Judicial Review (Norther Ireland) [2015] UKSC 42, the UK Supreme Court held that the publication of photographs of a minor (just about 14 years old at the time of publication) suspected of involvement in criminal activities did not … Continue reading →