Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

On September 14, 2011, Alex Türk announced that he will be resigning his position as Chairman of the French Data Protection Authority (the “CNIL”), in accordance with a recent amendment to the French Data Protection Act (Loi n° 2011-334 du 29 mars 2011 relative au Défenseur des droits).  The amendment prohibits the CNIL’s Chairman from holding any other elected office or public position.  Although this restriction does not enter into force until September 1, 2012, Mr. Türk, who also serves as a senator in the French Parliament, chose to resign prior to the upcoming French ...

On September 12, 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (“ONC”) unveiled a model privacy notice for personal health records (the “PHR Model Privacy Notice”).  The PHR Model Privacy Notice was developed by ONC in collaboration with consumers and vendors of personal health records (“PHRs”).  The PHR Model Privacy Notice is intended to enable consumers to “understand privacy and security policies and data sharing practice information, compare PHR company practices, and make informed decisions.”

On September 8, 2011, Richard Allan, Facebook’s Director of European Public Policy, met with the German Federal Ministry of the Interior (the “Ministry”) and endorsed the Ministry’s initiative for a future self-regulatory code for social networks with a focus on data security, consumer protection and the protection of minors.

On September 12, 2011, the Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information of the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia (“DPA”) imposed a fine of €60,000 on Easycash GmbH (“Easycash”), a leading German service provider for electronic payments.

Mexico’s Federal Institute for Access to Information and Data Protection ( “IFAI”) will host the 33rd International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners in Mexico City on November 2-3, 2011.  This year’s conference, entitled “Privacy: The Global Age,” will focus on the challenges associated with managing and protecting personal data in an era characterized by the constant, instantaneous transfer of information across the globe.  IFAI President Jacqueline Peschard discussed the conference in further detail in an interview with Marty Abrams ...

Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Sorrell v. IMS Health, Thomas Julin, partner at Hunton & Williams LLP who represented IMS Health in the case, closely studied the Court’s decision to assess its implications, including with respect to other forthcoming legislation.  In an interview with Marty Abrams, President of the Centre for Information Policy Leadership, during the Centre’s First Friday Call on September 9, 2011, Julin discussed the close parallels between the law invalidated in Sorrell v. IMS Health and proposed federal regulation of behavioral ...

Over the past several weeks, online tracking practices involving the use of Flash cookies and ETags have been the subject of new research studies, class action lawsuits and significant media attention.

On September 6, 2011, Lisa J. Sotto, partner and head of Hunton & Williams’ Privacy and Data Security practice, discussed why companies and individuals should be concerned about protecting their personal information in an interview with FoxNews.com.

View the video of Lisa’s interview with Kimberly Guilfoyle.

On September 6, 2011, a bankruptcy court approved an agreement between bankrupt bookseller Borders Group, Inc. (“Borders”) and Next Jump, Inc., (“Next Jump”) regarding Next Jump’s alleged trademark infringement and unauthorized use of Borders’ customer information.  Next Jump stipulated that it will not communicate with persons on Borders’ customer list, and that it would remove the Borders name and marks from websites that Next Jump owns or operates.

As reported in the Hunton Employment & Labor Perspectives Blog, on August 18, 2011, the National Labor Relations Board’s Acting General Counsel issued a report discussing fourteen social media cases recently decided by the Board.  The cases highlighted in the report offer insight regarding how the NLRB will handle various social media issues in the future.

Read the full post, which provides an overview of several of the cases highlighted in the NLRB’s report.