The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit recently affirmed the district court’s dismissal of a putative class action brought by customers of the brokerage firm Scottrade in the wake of an alleged data breach impacting Scottrade in 2013. The named plaintiffs had asserted several contract-based claims against Scottrade, alleging that Scottrade had […]
Data Protection
UK will soon introduce a new Data Protection Bill
The UK Department for Culture, Media & Sport is planning to present a new Data Protection Bill to the Parliament in early September. This new Bill will replace the current UK Data Protection Act 1998 and will effectively incorporate the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) in the UK legal system. The new Data Protection […]
Data Processing at Work: New Challenges towards Compliance
The Article 29 Working Party (“WP29”) recently issued an opinion that discusses the processing of employee personal information (Opinion 02/2017). WP29 focuses on the use of new technologies by employers and assesses requirements in light of the upcoming General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). Consent and legal bases to process personal information The WP29 has historically […]
FTC Updates Data Security Guidance for Businesses
In June, the Federal Trade Commission released a new guide for businesses on implementing sound data security protections and procedures. In “Protecting Personal Information: A Guide For Business,” the FTC offers “10 practical lessons” based on the numerous enforcement actions brought by the FTC. The guide offers insight into the thinking of this key federal […]
Facebook Fined for WhatsApp Data Linking Fallout
On 18 May 2017, the European Commission (“Commission”) fined Facebook €110 million ($122 million) for misrepresentations made in its application for competition clearance of the company’s acquisition of WhatsApp. In its merger application, Facebook claimed that it would be unable to automatically match Facebook users’ accounts and WhatsApp users’ accounts for marketing and other purposes. […]