Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

On January 28, 2022, in celebration of Data Privacy Day, the Colorado Attorney General’s Office issued prepared remarks from Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and published guidance on data security best practices. In his remarks, Attorney General Weiser highlighted the importance of protecting data security and outlined his office’s plans for implementing the Colorado Privacy Act (“CPA”), which takes effect July 1, 2023.

On February 2, 2022, the Secretary of State placed the UK Information Commissioner’s Office's (“ICO's ”) final international data transfer agreement (“IDTA”) and international data transfer addendum to the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses (“SCCs”) for international data transfers (“Addendum”) before the European Parliament. The IDTA and Addendum are set to come into force on March 21, 2022, but the ICO advises that they are of use to organizations immediately. The ICO also has stated that it intends to publish additional guidance on use of the IDTA and Addendum.

View the ICO’s final drafts of the IDTA and Addendum.

On January 28, 2022, California Attorney General Rob Bonta published a statement regarding recent investigations conducted by the California Office of Attorney General (“AG”) with respect to businesses operating loyalty programs and their compliance with the California Consumer Privacy Act’s (“CCPA’s”) financial incentive requirements. As a result of the investigations, the AG’s Office sent non-compliance notices to major corporations across multiple sectors, including retail, food services, travel and home improvement. The businesses have 30 days to cure the alleged CCPA violations and bring their loyalty programs into compliance with the CCPA. Otherwise, enforcement action can be initiated.

Organizations increasingly use artificial intelligence- (“AI”) driven solutions in their day-to-day business operations. Generally, these AI-driven solutions require the processing of significant amounts of personal data for the AI model’s own training, which often is not the purpose for which the personal data originally was collected. There is a clear tension between such further use of vast amounts of personal data and some of the key data protection principles outlined in EU privacy regulations. On the occasion of Data Privacy Day 2022, Hunton privacy attorneys ...

On January 21, 2022, the Federal Trade Commission published two new resources for complying with the Health Breach Notification Rule (the “Rule”). In September 2021, the FTC issued a Policy Statement clarifying that the Rule applies to makers of health apps, connected devices and similar products. As we previously blogged, the Rule requires vendors of personal health records (“PHR”), PHR-related entities and service providers to these entities, to notify consumers and the FTC (and, in some cases, the media) in the event of a breach of unsecured identifiable health information, including cybersecurity intrusions and other instances of unauthorized access.

On November 14, 2021, the Cyberspace Administration of China (“CAC”) released for public comment its draft Regulations on Network Data Security Management (the “Draft Regulations”). The Draft Regulations are intended to implement portions of three existing laws – the Cybersecurity Law (“CSL”), the Data Security Law (“DSL”) and the Personal Information Protection Law (“PIPL”) (together, the “Three Laws”) – by providing guidance on certain provisions and establishing specific requirements for implementing certain principles contemplated in the Three Laws. In addition, the Draft Regulations add new requirements related to data processing activities. Once effective, the Draft Regulations will impose even greater compliance obligations on companies than the PIPL.

The Austrian data protection authority (the “Austrian DPA”) recently published a decision in a case brought against an Austrian website provider and Google by the non-governmental organization co-founded by privacy activist Max Schrems, None of Your Business (“NOYB”). The Austrian DPA ruled that the use of Google Analytics cookies by the website operator violates both Chapter V of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), which establishes rules on international data transfers, and the Schrems II judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union.

On January 7, 2022, U.S. Representatives Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, wrote to all of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) Safe Harbor programs to request information about each program to ensure “participants in the program are fulfilling their legal obligations to provide ‘substantially the same or greater protections for children’ as those detailed in the COPPA Rule” and “to solicit feedback” regarding “ways in which Congress can strengthen COPPA and the COPPA Rule.”

On January 12, 2022, the French Data Protection Authority (the “CNIL”) published guidelines on the re-use of personal data by data processors for their own purposes (such as product improvement or the development of new products and services) under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) (the “Guidelines”). This post outlines key takeaways from the Guidelines.

On January 5, 2022, the European Data Protection Supervisor (“EDPS”) issued a decision against the European Parliament (“EP”). The case resulted from a complaint submitted by certain Members of the European Parliament (“MEPs”) who alleged that the Parliament’s use of cookies violated data protection law, including requirements regarding the transfer of personal data outside of the EU. The EDPS is responsible for overseeing compliance of data protection rules by the EU institutions.