Recent Articles

Obama Administration Unveils Blueprint for Consumer Data Privacy

Jennifer Archie
February 27, 2012 17:43

By Jennifer Archie and Rebekah Lewis The Obama Administration has unveiled a 50-page blueprint for consumer data privacy, including a recommendation for a federally legislated and FTC-enforced Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights. While it would not alter existing laws, the legislation would extend...

European Commission Adopts Privacy Reform Package

Ulrich Wuermeling
January 25, 2012 18:51

The European Commission adopted a proposal to reform European privacy law on 25 January 2012. According to the Commission the reform will "strengthen online privacy rights and boost Europe's digital economy." Time will tell whether the former is compatible with the latter. The proposal now moves to...

Compromise on Draft European Data Protection Regulation in Reach

Ulrich Wuermeling
January 22, 2012 22:51

The Directorate General for Justice of the European Commission has in recent weeks worked to overcome criticism from other Directorates on its draft proposal to reform Europe’s privacy law. It now appears possible that the proposal for the reform is back on track for adoption at the...

European Commission Reconsiders Approach to European Privacy Reform

Ulrich Wuermeling
January 11, 2012 22:14

Viviane Reding, the European Commission Vice President in charge of the reform of the European privacy law, has received negative opinions from a handful of Directorates-General in the European Commission on an internal draft of the General Data Protection Regulation. As a consequence, the draft...

First Draft of European Privacy Reform Leaked to the Public

Ulrich Wuermeling
December 06, 2011 19:25

A recent draft of the new European Data Protection Framework has leaked from the European Commission. It is still subject to internal discussions between the different Commissioners and Directorates-General, but is likely to be reasonably close to the official Commission draft expected to be...

European Court of Justice Enforces Strict Harmonization

Ulrich Wuermeling
November 29, 2011 19:03

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) is challenging national legislators in the European Union who introduced privacy laws stricter than those provided for by the European Data Protection Directive (95/46/EC). In a decision issued on November 24, 2011, the ECJ declared a provision in the...

SEC Guidance on Cybersecurity Disclosures

Kevin Boyle
November 22, 2011 23:17

By Kevin Boyle and Kee-Min Ngiam The SEC's Staff of the Division of Corporation Finance recently issued guidance to help clarify public reporting companies' disclosure obligations in the area of cybersecurity risks and cyber incidents. The guidance, which does not change existing disclosure...

New EU Privacy Rules Will Apply to All Online Businesses with EU Customers

Gail Crawford
November 15, 2011 19:10

European Union Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding has confirmed that we can expect to see a draft of the eagerly awaited new Data Privacy Directive in January. The new rules are likely to significantly strengthen the rights of individuals. According to a press release issued jointly last...

Unfair Software Design: Lessons from the FTC's Proposed Frostwire Consent Judgment

Kevin Boyle
October 13, 2011 23:15

A recent proposed FTC consent judgment sends a warning to avoid default program settings that compromise privacy when setup routines create the impression they do not. The FTC's underlying complaint against Frostwire LLC, developer of P2P file-sharing applications, alleged that the firm’s...

Cyber Security: Getting the Board on Board?

Gail Crawford
October 13, 2011 16:51

By Gail Crawford and Amy Taylor At the end of 2010, the UK Government raised the national threat level for cyber security risk to Tier One (the same tier as the terrorism threat) and announced it was allocating £650 million (around US $1 billion) to governmental cyber security measures and...