Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

Earlier this month, the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (“PCI SSC”) published a set of enhanced validation procedures designed to provide greater assurance that certain entities are maintaining compliance with the PCI Data Security Standard (“PCI DSS”) effectively and on a continuing basis. The payment card brands and acquirers will determine which organizations are required to undergo a compliance assessment with respect to these supplemental validation requirements, which are entitled the PCI DSS Designated Entities Supplemental Validation (“DESV”).

Hunton & Williams LLP partners Lisa J. Sotto, Scott H. Kimpel and Matthew P. Bosher recently published an article in Westlaw Journal’s Securities Litigation & Regulation entitled SEC Cybersecurity Investigations: A How-to Guide. The article details the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC’s”) role in cybersecurity regulation and enforcement, and offers best practice tips for navigating the investigative process. In the article, the authors note that the threat of an SEC enforcement investigation must be considered an integral part of cybersecurity ...

Hunton & Williams will host a live webinar covering the latest developments on the proposed EU General Data Protection Regulation on Thursday, July 9, at 12:00 p.m. EDT. The webinar will provide an overview of the current status of the EU General Data Protection Regulation, highlights from the ongoing trilogue discussions, and guidance on how to prepare for the upcoming changes.

This webinar is the first segment of a two-part series addressing updates on the proposed European legislative reform. We will hold Part II later this year as negotiations continue to develop.

The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California recently granted, only in part, a motion to dismiss a data breach class action against Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc. (“Sony”) in Corona v. Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc., No. 14-CV-09600 (RGK) (C.D. Cal. June 15, 2015). The case therefore will proceed with some of the claims intact.

Legislators in New Hampshire and Oregon recently passed bills designed to protect the online privacy of students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

On June 11, 2015, New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan (D-NH) signed H.B. 520, a bipartisan bill that requires operators of websites, online platforms and applications targeting students and their families (“Operators”) to create and maintain “reasonable” security procedures to protect certain covered information about students. H.B. 520 also prohibits Operators from using covered information for targeted advertising. H.B. 520 defines covered information broadly as “personally identifiable information or materials,” including name, address, date of birth, telephone number and educational records, provided to Operators by students, their schools, their parents or legal guardians, or otherwise gathered by the Operators.

On June 18, 2015, the Article 29 Working Party (the “Working Party”) published letters regarding the proposed EU General Data Protection Regulation (the “Regulation”) addressed to representatives of the Council of the European Union, the European Parliament and the European Commission. Attached to each of the letters is an Appendix detailing the Working Party’s opinion on the core themes of the Regulation.

On June 16, 2015, the Consumer Federation of America announced in a joint statement with other privacy advocacy groups that they would no longer participate in the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (“NTIA”) multistakeholder process to develop a code of conduct regarding the commercial use of facial recognition technology. The letter was signed by the Center for Democracy & Technology, the Center for Digital Democracy, the Consumer Federation of America, Common Sense Media, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the American Civil Liberties Union, Consumer Action, Consumer Watchdog and the Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown University Law Center. This decision comes after 16 months of meetings and negotiations. In its announcement, the group highlighted its inability to come to an agreement with industry groups on how the issue of consumer consent would be addressed in a code of conduct regarding the use of facial recognition technology. Specifically, the disagreement between consumer and industry groups revolved around the default rule for consumer consent (i.e., whether the default should be opt-in or opt-out consent).

The Council of the European Union has agreed on a general approach to the proposed EU General Data Protection Regulation (the “Regulation”). This marks a significant step forward in the legislative process, and the Council’s text will form the basis of its “trilogue” negotiations with the European Parliament and the European Commission. The aim of the trilogue process is to achieve agreement on a final text of the Regulation by the end of 2015. The first trilogue meeting is expected to take place on June 24, 2015.

On June 11 and 12, 2015, Asia Pacific Privacy Authority (“APPA”) members, invited observers and guest speakers from the government, private sector, academia and civil society, met in Hong Kong to discuss privacy law and policy issues at the 43rd APPA Forum. At the end of the open session on day two, APPA issued its customary communiqué, setting forth the highlights of the discussions of the open and closed sessions. The Hong Kong Privacy Commissioner, who hosted the APPA meeting, also hosted a conference on big data and privacy on June 10.

On June 24, 2015, DataGuidance will host a complimentary webinar on Brazil: Towards Privacy Compliance. The panel of speakers includes Bojana Bellamy, President of the Centre for Information Policy Leadership (“CIPL”) at Hunton & Williams; Esther Nunes, Partner of Pinheiro Neto Advogados; and Renato Leite Monteiro of Opice Blum, Bruno, Abrusio & Vainzof Advogados Associados. The speakers will discuss the Draft Bill for the Protection of Personal Data (Anteprojeto de Lei para a Proteção de Dados Pessoais) that was issued in January 2015. Concepts and provisions in the ...

On May 19, 2015, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology promulgated its Provisions on the Administration of Short Messaging Services (the “Provisions”), which will take effect on June 30, 2015.

On June 9, 2015, Max Schrems tweeted that the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) will delay his opinion in Europe v. Facebook, a case challenging the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework. The opinion was previously scheduled to be issued on June 24. No new date has been set.

Hunton & Williams LLP’s Global Privacy and Cybersecurity practice group has written a portfolio for Bloomberg BNA on information security and data breach issues in the United States and globally. Cybersecurity and Data Breach offers a broad overview of relevant legal requirements in the United States, European Union and select countries around the world. The portfolio includes practical guidance and advice on managing a data security breach, from managing an investigation and conducting remediation to providing notification to affected individuals, regulators, consumer reporting agencies, employees, boards of directors and the public. It also provides details on proactive cyber readiness activities such as preparing an Incident Response Plan, conducting tabletop exercises, and developing a vendor and employee management program. Cybersecurity and Data Breach is available at Bloomberg BNA’s Privacy & Data Security Law Resource Center and also at Bloomberg Law.

On May 22, 2015, the Article 29 Working Party published an update to its explanatory document regarding the use of Binding Corporate Rules (“BCRs”) by data processors (“WP204”). The original explanatory document was published on April 19, 2013 and identified two scenarios in which a non-EU processor, processing personal data received under BCRs, should notify the controller and the relevant data protection authorities (“DPAs”) in the event of a legally binding request for the personal data.

On May 13, 2015, Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval (R-NV) signed into law A.B. 179 (the “Bill”), which expands the definition of “personal information” in the state’s data security law. The law takes effect on July 1, 2015. Under the Bill, personal information now includes:

On May 29, 2015, Article 29 Working Party Chairwoman Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin sent a letter to APEC Data Privacy Subgroup (“DPS”) Chair Danièle Chatelois, expressing the Working Party’s continued support for the collaboration between the two groups.

On June 2, 2015, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”) issued a press release on its recently published draft report, entitled Privacy Risk Management Framework for Federal Information Systems (the “Report”). The Report describes a privacy risk management framework (“PRMF”) for federal information systems designed to promote “a greater understanding of privacy impacts and the capability to address them in federal information systems through risk management.” The draft PRMF includes a Privacy Risk Assessment Methodology (“PRAM”) consisting of several worksheets for assessing the privacy impact of data actions.

On June 1, 2015, the Group of the European People’s Party in the European Parliament released an updated timetable for agreeing on the proposed EU General Data Protection Regulation (the “Regulation”). The European Commission, European Parliament and the Council of the European Union will soon enter multilateral negotiations, known as the “trilogue,” to agree on the final text of the proposed Regulation.

On May 28, 2015, the German government adopted a draft law that would require telecommunications and Internet service providers to retain Internet and telephone usage data. The initiative comes more than a year after the European Court of Justice declared the EU Data Retention Directive invalid, which had been implemented previously by German law. The German law implementing the EU Data Protection Directive had been declared unconstitutional by the German Federal Constitutional Court five years ago.

Hunton & Williams LLP announces the firm’s Global Privacy and Cybersecurity practice was again ranked in Tier 1 by Chambers & Partners in their 2015 Global and USA guides. Over the last eight years, the firm has been recognized by Chambers Global, Chambers UK and Chambers USA as a Tier 1 firm for privacy and data protection. As noted by Chambers USA, the practice lawyers “have established themselves as real leaders in this area.”

On May 26, 2015, the Upper House of the Dutch Parliament passed a bill that introduces a general obligation for data controllers to notify the Dutch Data Protection Authority (“DPA”) of data security breaches and provides increased sanctions for violations of the Dutch Data Protection Act. A Dutch Royal Decree still needs to be adopted to set the new law’s date of entry into force. According to the Dutch DPA, the new law is likely to come into force on January 1, 2016.