Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

On August 24, 2017, APEC issued a statement on the renewed talks between APEC and the EU on creating interoperability between the APEC Cross-Border Privacy Rules (“CBPR”) and the EU data transfer mechanisms.

On August 7, 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (“OCIE”) issued a Risk Alert examining the cybersecurity policies and procedures of 75 broker-dealers, investment advisers and investment companies (collectively, the “firms”). The Risk Alert builds on OCIE’s 2014 Cybersecurity Initiative, a prior cybersecurity examination of the firms, and notes that while OCIE “observed increased cybersecurity preparedness” among the firms since 2014, it “also observed areas where compliance and oversight could be improved.”

As reported in BNA Privacy Law Watch, on August 17, 2017, Delaware amended its data breach notification law, effective April 14, 2018. The Delaware law previously required companies to give notice of a breach to affected Delaware residents “as soon as possible” after determining that, as a result of the breach, “misuse of information about a Delaware resident has occurred or is reasonably likely to occur.” The prior version of the law did not require regulator notification.

On August 15, 2017, the FTC announced that it had reached a settlement with Uber, Inc., over allegations that the ride-sharing company had made deceptive data privacy and security representations to its consumers. Under the terms of the settlement, Uber has agreed to implement a comprehensive privacy program and undergo regular, independent privacy audits for the next 20 years.

On August 18, 2017, the FTC published the fifth blog post in its “Stick with Security” series. As we previously reported, the FTC will publish an entry every Friday for the next few months focusing on each of the 10 principles outlined in its Start with Security Guide for Businesses. This week’s post, entitled Stick with Security: Store sensitive personal information securely and protect it during transmission, outlines steps businesses can take to secure sensitive data, including when it is in transit.

Recently, the fourth edition of the book, The International Comparative Legal Guide to: Data Protection 2017, was published by the Global Legal Group. Hunton & Williams’ Global Privacy and Cybersecurity lawyers prepared several chapters in the guide, including the opening chapter on “All Change for Data Protection: The European Data Protection Regulation,” co-authored by London partner Bridget Treacy and associate Anita Bapat. Several other global privacy and cybersecurity team members also prepared chapters in the guide, including David Dumont (Belgium), Claire François (France), Judy Li (China), Manuel E. Maisog (China), Wim Nauwelaerts (Belgium), Anna Pateraki (Germany), Aaron P. Simpson (United States), Adam Smith (United Kingdom) and Jenna Rode (United States).

As reported in BNA Privacy & Security Law Report, on August 9, 2017, the Russian privacy regulator, Roskomnadzor, expanded its list of nations that provide sufficient privacy protections to allow transfers of personal data from Russia. Russian law allows data transfers to countries that are signatories to the Council of Europe’s Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data (the “Convention”), and to certain other non-signatory countries deemed by Roskomnadzor to have adequate privacy protections based on relevant data protection laws, privacy regulators and penalties for privacy law violations.

In 2017, over $1.3 billion has been raised by start-ups through Initial Coin Offerings (“ICOs”), a relatively new form of financing technique in which a company (typically one operating in the digital currency space) seeking to raise seed money makes a “token” available for sale, and the token gives the purchaser some future right in the business or other benefit. Amidst much anticipation, on July 25, 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) released a Report of Investigation (“Report”) under Section 21(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ...

On August 14, 2017, the Colombian Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (“SIC”) announced that it was adding the United States to its list of nations that provide an adequate level of protection for the transfer of personal information, according to a report from Bloomberg BNA. The SIC, along with the Superintendence of Finance, is Colombia’s data protection authority, and is responsible for enforcing Colombia’s data protection law. Under Colombian law, transfers of personal information to countries that are deemed to have laws providing an adequate level of ...

In the wake of China’s Cybersecurity Law going into effect on June 1, 2017, local authorities in Shantou and Chongqing have brought enforcement actions against information technology companies for violations of the Cybersecurity Law. These are, reportedly, the first enforcement actions brought pursuant to the Cybersecurity Law.