Readers of this blog will almost certainly be aware that the European Union (EU) was the first regional organisation on the international stage to adopt a comprehensive, and relatively stringent, data protection regime. Yet, as the Internet is a global communications infrastructure, the EU has had to find ways to dialogue with non-EU (‘third’) countries … Continue reading
Tag Archives: data protection
ISPs: data controllers as well as mere conduits? Does this make sense? What do we do with the e-privacy Directive if we care?
So here we are, the English Court of Appeal, as it has been explained by Alison in her post, has recently held in the Google v Vidal-Hall case, among other things, that there was a serious issue to be tried that Browser-Generated Information (BGI) is personal data under the Data Protection Act of 1998 (DPA), … Continue reading
The Council of the EU and the proposed Genaral Data Protection Regulation… And what about pseudonymous data?
NGOs (non-governmental organisations) have been doing a good job recently in trying to explain where things stand in the process of re-drafting [and maybe one day adopting] the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). You might remember that on 25 January 2012, the European Commission released a Proposed Revised Data Protection Legislative Framework, including the GDPR. … Continue reading
blocking injunction / Data protection / deep packet inspection / Intellectual Property / Internet intermediaries / ISPs / Privacy
Cartier et al v Sky et al 2014: what if the ISPs’ blocking systems did not implement Shallow Packet Inspection technologies?
Over the last couple of years, music and film copyright owners have obtained several website-blocking orders under UK copyright rules (section 97A of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988). However, as there is no equivalent legislative provision for trade mark infringement, website-blocking orders have not been used in respect of trade mark infringement… that … Continue reading
Ofcom issues statement promoting the Internet of Things
A vision for the future: how exactly do you regulate a seamless network of ‘social machines’? Ofcom recently published a statement on promoting UK investment and innovation in the Internet of Things (IoT) – commonly described as the online interconnection of multiple machine-to-machine (M2M) applications. The statement follows on from Ofcom’s public call for inputs … Continue reading
Article 29 Working Party on the concept of health data: could it mean that we need to adapt the definition of health data as well as that of personal data?
On 5 February 2015, the Article 29 EU Data Protection Working Party (WP) issued a letter addressed to Paul Timmers – the Director of Sustainable and Secure Society at the European Commission. Within the Annex of this letter, the WP identifies relevant criteria to determine when data processed by lifestyle and wellbeing apps and devices … Continue reading
The (EU Parliament) Legal Service’s opinion on the impact of the invalidity of the data retention Directive…. Is the wind starting to blow?
On 8 January, the legal service of the European Parliament released an opinion, the purpose of which was to answer 9 questions posed by its LIBE Committee (Civil Liberties, Justice and Home affairs), as regards the effect of the judgment of CJEU in the landmark Digital Ireland (DRI) case of 8 April 2014 on the … Continue reading
Access to data / content data / Data protection / interception / Internet intermediaries / Law enforcement / metadata / Privacy
What if Commissioners could be heard by the right people? Why DRIPA is getting muddier and muddier…
Just before Christmas, the UK Interception of Communications Commissioner’s Office (IOCCO) published online its submission for the Investigatory Powers Review. It is a 51 p. document full of interesting things. The purpose of this post is to highlight the main points made by the IOCCO with a view to clarifying the debate as regards the … Continue reading
A structured overview of the Article 29 Working Party’s guidelines on the implementation of the right to … alter the structured overview of data-subject information generated by search engines (the so-called ‘right to be forgotten’)
The Article 29 Data Protection Working Party adopted on 26 November 2014 its guidelines on the implementation of the controversial Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) judgment on Google Spain v. AEPD and Costeja (C-131/12). In that case, the CJEU ruled on three questions concerning the interpretation of the Data Protection Directive … Continue reading
EU Working Party publishes Working Document and Joint Statement on data protection and electronic surveillance for security purposes
State surveillance under EU scrutiny once again The Article 29 Working Party (DPWP) has published a Working Document on surveillance of electronic communications for intelligence and national security purposes (WP228), together with a short Joint Statement (WP227) on the ways in which the EU should influence policy in this area through its data protection legal … Continue reading