Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

California Attorney General (“AG”) Xavier Becerra recently issued an alert emphasizing the rights of California consumers under the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The alert follows media reports that the AG’s office is “committed to enforcing the law upon finalizing the rules or [by] July 1, whichever comes first,” even with the “new reality created by COVID-19.”

On April 16, 2020, the Centre for Information Policy Leadership (“CIPL”), in collaboration with the Centro de Estudos de Direito, Internet e Sociedade of Instituto Brasiliense de Direito Público (“CEDIS-IDP”), published a White Paper (the “White Paper”) on the Role of the Brazilian Data Protection Authority (“ANPD”) under Brazil’s New Data Protection Law (“LGPD”). The White Paper is accompanied by two infographics: 1) the priorities of the Agência Nacional de Proteção de Dados, and 2) the case for an effective Brazil DPA - the ANPD.

As the COVID-19 outbreak continues to unfold, businesses are dealing with new and unprecedented operational and legal challenges. There also are key data protection considerations for businesses in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, including compliance with the requirements around the processing of personal data for health monitoring purposes, crisis management issues and steps to be implemented to ensure the continuity of privacy compliance programs.

In Part 1 of an S4x20 video on Cybersecurity Law and Governance, Lisa Sotto, Chair of Hunton Andrews Kurth’s Privacy and Cybersecurity practice, speaks to cyber risk as one of the top risk issues for senior executives in the current digital landscape.

On April 21, 2020, the European Data Protection Board (“EDPB”) adopted Guidelines on the processing of health data for scientific purposes in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the Guidelines is to provide clarity on the most urgent matters relating to health data, such as legal basis for processing, the implementation of adequate safeguards and the exercise of data subject rights.

On April 13, 2020, the New York Department of Financial Services (“NYDFS”) issued guidance (“April guidance”) to all New York State entities covered under NYDFS’s cybersecurity regulation regarding assessing and addressing heightened cybersecurity risks due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In asking regulated entities to address risks “appropriately,” the April guidance references NYDFS’s earlier March 10, 2020 guidance calling on regulated institutions to submit to the agency (within 30 days of the guidance) plans “to address operational risks posed by the outbreak of a novel coronavirus,” including “assessment[s] of potential increased cyber-attacks and fraud.”

On April 16, 2020, the European eHealth Network—a voluntary network connecting national authorities responsible for eHealth designated by EU Member States—published a common EU toolbox for the use of contact tracing and warning apps in response to the coronavirus pandemic (the “Toolbox”). The Toolbox is part of the common EU coordinated approach to using COVID-19 mobile apps, as set out in the European Commission’s Recommendation of April 8, 2020. The Toolbox was accompanied by guidance from the European Commission on data protection and privacy aspects of the use of such apps (the “Guidance”).

On April 9, 2020 the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation held a “paper hearing” entitled Enlisting Big Data in the Fight Against Coronavirus. A “paper hearing” consists of the committee members submitting opening statements and witnesses submitting testimony, which were posted on the Committee’s website. Witnesses were required to submit answers to member questions last week.

Elizabeth Denham, the UK Information Commissioner, has released an opinion in response to the joint effort announced by Apple Inc. (“Apple”) and Google LLC (“Google”) to enable the use of Bluetooth technology to help governments and health agencies reduce the spread of COVID-19 by building contact-tracing technology into iOS and Android smartphones. In the opinion, the Information Commissioner concludes that the "Contact Tracing Framework" (“CTF”) being developed supports data protection principles.

On April 15, 2020, the French Data Protection Authority (the “CNIL”) published the final version of its standard (“Referential”) concerning the processing of personal data for core Human Resources (“HR”) management purposes. That Referential was adopted following a public consultation launched by the CNIL on April 11, 2019. The CNIL also published a set of questions and answers (“FAQs”), which aim to answer some practical questions that the CNIL are regularly asked regarding HR data processing activities.