Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

On November 9, 2023, the European Parliament adopted, by a majority of 481 votes in favor, 31 votes against and 71 abstentions, the final text of the Data Act. As explained in our previous blog, the Data Act aims to “ensure fairness in the digital environment, stimulate a competitive data market, open opportunities for data-driven innovation and make data more accessible for all” and was initially proposed by the European Commission on February 23, 2022.

On April 12, 2023, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed into law S.B. 396 creating the state’s Social Media Safety Act (the “Act”). The Act comes after Utah’s similar social media laws enacted in March.

On February 16, 2023, the National Credit Union Administration (“NCUA”) Board unanimously approved a final rule requiring federally insured credit unions (“FICUs”) to notify the NCUA as soon as possible, within 72 hours, after an FCIU “reasonably believes” that a reportable cyber incident has occurred.

On October 25, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ” or the “Department”) announced that Google had entered into an agreement to resolve a dispute over the loss of data responsive to a search warrant issued in 2016.

On June 30, 2022, the New York Office of the Attorney General (“NYOAG”) announced a $400,000 agreement with Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. (“Wegmans”) in connection with a cloud storage security issue. The NYOAG alleges that Wegmans exposed the personal information of three million consumers by storing the data in misconfigured cloud storage containers.

On June 10, 2022, the Centre for Information Policy Leadership at Hunton Andrews Kurth published a white paper entitled “Local Law Assessments and Online Services – Refining the Approach to Beneficial and Privacy-Protective Cross-Border Data Flows A: Case Study from British Columbia.” The paper discusses recent developments in British Columbia that demonstrated a recognition by law- and policy-makers of the importance of cross-border data flows to an efficient and effective public sector.

On March 2, 2022, the Senate unanimously passed the Strengthening American Cybersecurity Act of 2022 (“SACA” or the “Bill”). The Bill is now with the House of Representatives for a vote and, if passed, will be sent to President Biden’s desk for signature.

On February 15, 2022, the French Data Protection Authority (the “CNIL”) published its enforcement priority topics for 2022. Each year, the CNIL conducts numerous investigations in response to complaints, data breach notifications and ongoing events, or based on previously established enforcement priorities.

On August 19, 2021, the Belgian Council of State confirmed a decision of the regional Flemish Authorities to contract with an EU branch of a U.S. company using Amazon Web Services (“AWS”).

On May 27, 2021, the European Data Protection Supervisor (the “EDPS”) announced that it has opened two investigations regarding (1) the use of cloud services provided by Amazon Web Services and Microsoft under Cloud II contracts by European Union institutions, bodies and agencies; and (2) the use of Microsoft Office 365 by the European Commission.

On May 20, 2021, the Belgian Data Protection Authority (“Belgian DPA”), as the lead authority (in collaboration with two co-reviewing authorities), announced that it had approved the EU Data Protection Code of Conduct for Cloud Service Providers (the “EU Cloud CoC”). The EU Cloud CoC is the first transnational EU code of conduct since the entry into force of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”).

On November 2, 2020, the comment period for the Federal Acquisition Security Council’s (“FASC”) interim final rule (the “Interim Final Rule”) implementing the Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act of 2018 (the “2018 Act”) will close.

On March 19, 2020, the Irish Data Protection Authority (the “DPC”) published guidance to assist organizations in understanding their data security obligations and to mitigate their risks of a personal data breach when using cloud-based services (the “Guidance”).

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) published a white paper entitled “Promoting Public Safety, Privacy, and the Rule of Law Around the World: The Purpose and Impact of the CLOUD Act” (“White Paper”). The Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act (the “CLOUD Act”) was enacted in March 2018 by the U.S. government to aid foreign and U.S. investigators in obtaining access to electronic information related to serious crimes and held by service providers. The CLOUD Act authorizes the U.S. to enter into bilateral agreements with foreign countries that abide by a baseline standard for rule-of-law, privacy and civil liberties protections to streamline processes for obtaining electronic evidence. The CLOUD Act also codifies the principle that a company subject to U.S. jurisdiction “can be required to produce data the company controls, regardless of where it is stored at any point in time.”

On March 27, 2019, Utah Governor Gary Herbert signed HB57, the first U.S. law to protect electronic information that individuals have shared with certain third parties. The bill, called the “Electronic Information or Data Privacy Act,” places restrictions on law enforcement’s ability to obtain certain types of “electronic information or data” of a Utah resident, including (1) location information, stored data or transmitted data of an electronic device, and (2) data that is stored with a “remote computing service provider” (i.e., data stored in digital devices or servers).  The law provides for situations in which law enforcement may obtain such information without a warrant.

Recently, the General Services Administration (“GSA”) announced its plan to upgrade its cybersecurity requirements in an effort to build upon the Department of Defense’s new cybersecurity requirements, DFAR Section 252.204-7012, that became effective on December 31, 2017.

The Article 29 Working Party (“Working Party”) recently issued its Opinion on data processing at work (the “Opinion”). The Opinion, which complements the Working Party’s previous Opinion 08/2001 on the processing of personal data in the employment context and Working document on the surveillance of electronic communications in the workplace, seeks to provide guidance on balancing employee privacy expectations in the workplace with employers’ legitimate interests in processing employee data. The Opinion is applicable to all types of employees and not just those under an employment contract (e.g., freelancers).

On November 14, 2016, Lincoln Financial Securities Corp. (“LFS”), a subsidiary of Lincoln Financial Group, entered into a settlement (the “Settlement”) with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”), requiring LFS to pay a $650,000 fine and implement stronger cybersecurity protocols following a 2012 hack into its cloud-based server.

On July 21, 2016, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) entered into resolution agreements with two large public health centers, Oregon Health & Science University (“OHSU”) and the University of Mississippi Medical Center (“UMMC”), over alleged HIPAA violations.

On February 23, 2016, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it reached a settlement with Taiwanese-based network hardware manufacturer ASUSTeK Computer, Inc. (“ASUS”), to resolve claims that the company engaged in unfair and deceptive security practices in connection with developing network routers and cloud storage products sold to consumers in the U.S.

On December 7, 2015, European negotiators reached an agreement on the draft text of the Network and Information Security Directive (the “NIS Directive”), the first pan-EU rules on cybersecurity. The NIS Directive was first proposed by the European Commission on February 7, 2013, as part of its cybersecurity strategy for the European Union and aims to ensure a uniform level of cybersecurity across the EU.

On October 8, 2015, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act (“CalECPA”). The law requires police to obtain a warrant before accessing an individual’s private electronic information, such as text messages, emails, GPS data and online documents that are stored in the cloud and on smartphones, tablets, computers and other digital devices. The government also must obtain a warrant before requiring a business to produce an individual’s electronic information.

On April 10, 2015, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) published a summary of the feedback received from its July 28, 2014 report on Big Data and Data Protection (the “Report”). The ICO plans to revise its Report in light of the feedback received on three key questions and re-issue the Report in the summer of 2015. Below are key highlights set forth in the summary, entitled  Summary of feedback on Big Data and data protection and ICO response (“Summary of Feedback”).