Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

On April 19, 2012, the French Data Protection Authority (the “CNIL”) issued a press release detailing its enforcement agenda for 2012. In a report adopted March 29, 2012, the CNIL announced that it will conduct 450 on-site inspections this year, with particular focus on the specific themes described below. The CNIL also indicated that it will continue the work started in 2011 with at least 150 additional inspections related to video surveillance, especially with respect to surveillance in locations that are frequented by large numbers of individuals.

The UK Information Commissioner’s Office’s (“ICO”) has revised its statutory Code of Practice on assessment notices (the “Code”). The ICO first issued the Code in 2010, when its audit powers came into force. The Code has now been updated to reflect changes in auditing standards and practices.

In the past month, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) sent its final omnibus rule modifying the HIPAA Privacy, Security and Enforcement Rules to the White House Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) and announced a $100,000 settlement with Phoenix Cardiac Surgery, P.C. for violations of the HIPAA Rules.

On April 17, 2012, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Alberta and British Columbia released guidance on their expectations for accountable privacy programs as required by Canadian law. The guidance, entitled “Getting Accountability Right with a Privacy Management Program,” discusses the building blocks of a comprehensive privacy program for businesses of all sizes. Although intended for a Canadian audience, the paper likely will have worldwide influence given recent privacy law developments around the globe.

On March 8, 2012, during the CeBIT international IT trade show, the German Federal Office for Information Security (Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik or “BSI”) accepted the German Insurance Association’s application for certification of the “Trusted German Insurance Cloud,” a project that aims to establish a secure IT platform for the German insurance industry.  The parties previously had agreed to work together to develop practical requirements for a secure cloud solution, and to implement appropriate security measures in the “Trusted ...

On April 9, 2012, Maryland became the first state to pass legislation that would prevent employers from asking or forcing employees and applicants to hand over their social media login credentials. The bill, which passed the state Senate unanimously (Senate Bill 433) and the House of Delegates by a wide margin (House Bill 964), now awaits Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley’s signature.

On April 5, 2012, social media giant Twitter, Inc. (“Twitter”) filed a civil lawsuit against spammers and makers of spamming software claiming violations of Twitter’s user agreement and various California state and common laws. Borrowing from the popular term for unsolicited email messages, Twitter’s complaint describes “spam” on Twitter as “a variety of abusive behaviors” including “posting a Tweet with a harmful link … and abusing the @reply and @mention functions to post unwanted messages to a user.” The suit alleges that certain defendants violated Twitter’s Terms of Service, which prohibit “spam and abuse,” by distributing software tools “designed to facilitate abuse of the Twitter platform and marketed to dupe customers into violating Twitter’s user agreement.” Other defendants allegedly operated large numbers of automated Twitter accounts through which they attempted to “trick Twitter users into clicking on links to illegitimate websites.”

On March 22, 2012, the Article 29 Working Party (the “Working Party”), adopted an Opinion analyzing the privacy and data protection law framework applicable to the use of facial recognition technology in online and mobile services, such as social networks and smartphones. The Working Party defines facial recognition as the “automatic processing of digital images which contain the faces of individuals for the purpose of identification, authentication/verification or categorization of those individuals.”

Drawing on its eleven years of experience facilitating multistakeholder processes, on April 2, 2012, the Centre for Information Policy Leadership at Hunton & Williams LLP filed comments in response to the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s request for public comments on the multistakeholder process to develop consumer data privacy codes of conduct. The NTIA’s request relates to the topics and processes that will inform the creation of binding codes of conduct as discussed in the Obama Administration’s February ...