Use of Google Analytics has now been found to breach European Union privacy laws in France -- after a similar decision was reached in Austria last month. The French data protection watchdog, the CNIL, said today that an unnamed local website's use of Google Analytics is non-compliant with the bloc's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) -- breaching Article 44 which covers personal data transfers outside the bloc to so-called third countries which are not considered to have essentially equivalent privacy protections. The U.S. fails this critical equivalence test on account of having sweeping surveillance laws which do not provide non-U.S. citizens with any way to know whether their data is being acquired, how it's being used or to seek redress for any misuse.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) contains a blanket prohibition on the transfer of personal data outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) unless strict requirements are met. The rationale for this provision is to protect personal data and data subject rights by restricting data transfers to countries that may not have the same level of protection as the EEA. However, the ubiquitous and permeable character of new technologies such as cloud computing, and the increased inter-connectivity between societies, has made international data transfers the norm and not the exception. The Schrems II case and subsequent regulatory developments have further raised the bar for companies to comply with complex and, often, opaque rules.

Last month, UK digital minister Oliver Dowden took aim at what he dubbed an "endless" parade of cookie pop-ups -- suggesting the government is eyeing watering down consent requirements around web tracking as ministers consider how to diverge from European Union data protection standards, post-Brexit. Today the UK's outgoing information commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, stepped into the fray to urge her counterparts in G7 countries to knock heads together and coalesce around the idea of letting web users express generic privacy preferences at the browser/app/device level, rather than having to do it through pop-ups every time they visit a website.

Facebook's WhatsApp was fined a record 225 million euro by the Irish data protection regulator on Thursday after the EU privacy watchdog pressured Ireland to raise the penalty for the company's privacy breaches.

Partly at issue is how WhatsApp share information with parent company Facebook, according to the commission. The decision brings an end to a GDPR inquiry the privacy regulator started in December 2018. WhatsApp said it disagrees with the decision and plans to appeal. "We have worked to ensure the information we provide is transparent and comprehensive and will continue to do so," a WhatsApp spokesperson said via email.

Britain will attempt to move away from European data protection regulations as it overhauls its privacy rules after Brexit, the government has announced.

Amazon announced that it has been fined 746 million euros for violating the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules on how to process personal data. The notice, buried within the latest SEC filing from Amazon, said the decision was made by the Luxembourg National Commission (CNPD) for Data Protection on July 16. Alongside the fine, Amazon said the decision also imposes "corresponding practice revisions."

A federal judge says the results of Google searches are covered by the law governing how companies handle personal information, a victory for people seeking a digital "right to be forgotten."

Europe has some of the most advanced data rights in the world, and yet in practice, it is almost impossible to access and move one’s individual data in a useful way. European citizens and businesses can co-create value and strengthen local economies if they can move their data between services. This overview discusses current challenges and proposes 10 solutions to improve data portability in 2021.

The Irish DPC (Data Protection Commissioner) acknowledges in Irish Parliament hearing it "handles" GDPR complaints by not deciding about them, in violation of EU law.

The long-standing miracle of "self-resolving" GDPR complaints was then lifted by Helen Dixon: The DPC simply interprets the word "handle" to mean that the DPC can also simply dispose of complaints on the fundamental right to privacy. She openly argued “In fact, there is no obligation on the DPC under the 2018 Act to produce a decision in the case of any complaint.”

Alex described his experience with both Netflix and Spotify to get better JSON data formats back that include both human-readable artist/track/show/film title AND the media URL - so that you can uniquely identify/play/bookmark the correct episode/track version AND understand/display what it is. Data portability rights can work, if you refuse to drop it until they give you what you are entitled to!

Axel Voss, one of the fathers of the General Data Protection Regulation, told the Financial Times that it needs to be revised to take into account not only the widespread move to homeworking, but also the emergence of a host of new technologies.
(original article in Financial Times - paywalled)

The long-awaited report "Assessment of the EU Member States' Rules on Health Data in the Light of GDPR" has finally been published. Based on a string of workshops and consultations in the first half of 2020, the report provides a comprehensive overview of the fragmented approach on the use and re-use of health data across Member States. (also available: Country fiches for all EU member states)

In this report Anouk Ruhaak describes alternative approaches to data governance, specifically data trusts.

Keep safe in a digital world.

UKAN publishes the Anonymisation Decision Making Framework (ADF) to address a need for a practical guide to GDPR-compliant anonymisation that gives more operational advice than other publications such as the UK Information Commissioner’s Office’s (ICO) valuable Anonymisation Code of Practice.

The Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity at UC Berkeley is hosting an interdisciplinary workshop on July 30, 2021 to examine and compare how firms and consumers have responded to the E.U.’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA). This RFP seeks proposals to conduct scholarly inquiry into these topics to inform the workshop and, more broadly, to build the body of scientific knowledge foundational to these issues. Selected proposals will be invited to present and discuss their research-in-progress at the workshop.

Facebook could face a large fine if Instagram is found to have broken European Union privacy laws.

Many companies ask you to go through a complicated process. Is there any way to set a limit on how much additional info can be required?

A research paper on How do app vendors respond to subject access requests might answer the question.

Data protection as a pillar of citizens’ empowerment and the EU’s approach to the digital transition - two years of application of the General Data Protection Regulation.

Eike asked several inspiring questions regarding GDPR's Art. 15, 20 and 29. Anyone interested in fruitful discussion with him?

Next January 28th is the Data Protection Day, and with some companies in the personal data space, we want to make it a "GDPRmaggedon". The idea is to gather thousands (or more) citizens to request their personal data the same day, with advanced GDPR requests about all their portability data in machine readable format.

Privacy policies inform on personal data collection and processing practices, allowing people to make informed decisions about agiven service. However, they are difficult to understand due to theirlength and use of legal terminology. To address this issue, regulatory bod-ies propose the use of graphical representations for privacy policies. Thispaper reviews the development of current graphical and iconified repre-sentations for privacy policies

Within hours of the new GDPR being applicable on 25 May 2018, the European non-profit organisation noyb.eu filed three complaints against the Facebook Group (including WhatsApp and Instagram). Since then, the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) has declared the contents of the extremely slow procedure “confidential” and asked noyb.eu not to discuss them in public.

The Eropean Commission starts a consultation on GDPR with tight dates (1-29 April) and Iain suggested to submit an official collaborated MyData response to this. Please join collaboratively editing this MyData document.

As GDPR becomes the norm, are marketers able to walk the tight-rope of consumer data and privacy? Acxiom and DMA study consumers’ take on data sharing.

Only one in ten European websites respects the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the European privacy law, according to a study by MIT, UCL and Aarhus Universiteit.

The European Data Protection Board welcomes comments on the Guidelines 4/2019 on Article 25 Data Protection by Design and by Default.

The much awaited new Greek data protection law has been criticised for the lack of conformity of its provisions with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

You should check with the people of https://oascities.org/ and the Synchronicity project. I think they've done a lot of research and gained a lot of experience on data collection in the public domain and making sure it is inline with the European GDPR regulation on privacy.

As soon as 2020, the media industry could find itself with its main monetization channel shut down, yet few seem to be working on an alternative. The seeming inaction of most media owners, despite continuing and specific warnings from regulators, is dangerous and hard to comprehend.

The EU's independent data protection authority informed: It is with the deepest regret that we announce the loss of Giovanni Buttarelli, the European Data Protection Supervisor. Giovanni passed away surrounded by his family in Italy, last night, 20 August 2019.

The corporate world has gotten a shock of its recently when the data protection enforcement body of Greece has imposed a fine under Article 83 of the GDPR amounting to 150.000 EUR on PricewaterhouseCoopers.

A better data access request template.

This story is the first of a series on how civil society organisations and activists are using the GDPR (and similar data protection legislation) to advance rights and strengthen their work.

A common framework enabling companies to work together to protect consumers' privacy and data rights.

...and both are called Open GDPR. Though unrelated, the initiatives reflect some of the ways the ad and marketing industry is organizing itself around its personal data responsibilities.