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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 →

content regulation / Copyright / immunities / Internet intermediaries / liability / Linking / notice-and-take down

The CJEU on its head: Is GS Media consistent with Google v Vuitton?

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The decision of the CJEU (Court of Justice of the EU) in the GS Media case is a shock. For those who are still enjoying your summer holidays, the CJEU issued today a decision that will not be forgotten easily. The first reason is that the CJEU does not follow its Advocate General (AG), who … Continue reading →

Data protection / Intelligence and security agencies / Law enforcement / Privacy policies

New UK Decisions on the Data Protection Implications of Information Sharing with Law Enforcement

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Compliance with governmental requests for information raise a minefield of different laws, but data protection/privacy rights hold special pitfalls Determining when the sharing of personal data is legal can be a complicated exercise. Yet, the impetus for governmental agencies to collect and share more and more information is at an unprecedented high. In the EU, … Continue reading →

Cybersecurity / Intelligence and security agencies / Jurisdiction / Security

New EU Cyber Security Directive enters into force, alongside new US Cyber Incident Coordination Directive

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Cyber threats know no borders even if the law does…so how are cyber policies evolving in 2016 to deal with the increasing complexity and scale of cyber-incidents now faced by countries, businesses, and individuals? As anticipated in my post from January this year, a bolstering of cyber security legislation is squarely on the legislative and … Continue reading →

Brexit / Data protection / Data transfer / Jurisdiction / safe harbour

EU Approves ‘Privacy Shield’ Safe Framework for Trans-Atlantic Personal Data Transfers

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Privacy shields doubling as privacy swords? … While “the best defence” may also make a “good offence” (or, “offense”, as our US counterparts would call it), first you need to be confident that your defence strategy works! Last Friday, a statement was made by EU Vice-President Ansip and Justice Commissioner Vera Jourová announcing the adoption … Continue reading →

blocking injunction / deep packet inspection / filtering / Intellectual Property / Internet intermediaries / Trade Marks

Blocking injunction confirmed in trade mark case: could Cartier ever nourish euro-scepticism even after Brexit?

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The Court of Appeal of England and Wales (CA) confirmed yesterday the availability of injunctions against Internet access providers to the benefits of trade mark owners. In short, the CA had to hear appeals by five English Internet service providers (Sky, BT, EE, TalkTalk and Virgin, known as ‘the ISPs‘) against first instance orders made … Continue reading →

anonymisation / Brexit / Data protection / Data transfer / digital identity / e-government / eIDAS / General Data Protection Regulation / safe harbour

eIDAS applies from 1 July 2016: An EU dream come true after a Brexit nightmare?

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  Six days after the results of the UK Brexit referendum and it is still very hard to go back to a “normal” life, especially while remaining an EU citizen living in the UK. One of the most upsetting things of the referendum, at least for lawyer, is its nonsense. This holds true in particular … Continue reading →

anonymisation / big data / Data protection / General Data Protection Regulation / Internet intermediaries / metadata / pseudonymisation / Risk-based approach / Surveillance

Mind the Caveats – CJEU Advocate General opines that Dynamic IP Addresses can be Personal Data … (sometimes)

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“I am not a number …” – but to what extent does EU data protection law deem that I am identifiable from one if someone somewhere could link it back to me at a single point in time? The Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) has been hearing arguments in a case involving the … Continue reading →

content regulation / hate speech / illegal content / immunities / Intellectual Property / Internet intermediaries / notice-and-take down / terrorism

The EU Commission and its official Communication on Online Platforms: is the e-commerce Directive being attacked by the back door?

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As you might remember, a draft version of the European Commission’s Communication on Online Platforms and the Digital Single Market was leaked at the end of April. From digesting it at that time, it seemed to be clear that the Commission had taken the view that content regulation should be sectorial and the liability exemptions … Continue reading →

anonymisation / big data / Data protection / General Data Protection Regulation / Geo-location data / Personal data / Privacy / Privacy impact assessment / pseudonymisation

Location Data and Making Sense of the Goldilocks Paradox of Legal Anonymisation (too much, too little or just right…?)

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Collect, delete, repeat …. From ‘Where I am’ to ‘Who I am’, and back again? To pick up the thread from my previous posts on the topic of location data here and here, this final piece in the set returns to the first theme I discussed. This relates to the legal debate over when location … Continue reading →