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. […]
Regulatory Enforcement
Australia Adopts New Data Breach Notification Legislation
On February 13, 2017 Australia became one more among nation states adopting data breach notification legislation. In recent House and Senate votes, the Australian Parliament amended the Privacy Act 1988, introducing mandatory data breach notification requirements for entities regulated by the Privacy Act. Who is Subject to the New Legislation? The recent bill requires entities […]
WP29’s Guidance on the Lead Supervisory Authority
Late last week, the Article 29 Working Party (“WP29”) issued detailed guidance on companies’ obligations under three key provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This is part three of a three-part Alston & Bird series evaluating WP29’s positions, and relates to the “One Stop Shop” mechanism which aims at simplifying the way companies with operations in […]
FCC Proposes New Privacy Rules for Internet Service Providers
On March 10, 2016, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) proposed new privacy and data security rules for Internet service providers (“ISPs”) that, if passed, would regulate how ISPs collect, use, share, and protect customers’ data. The notice of proposed rulemaking (“NPRM”) that FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler circulated for consideration by the full Commission is previewed […]
Working Paper on Internet Service Providers and Privacy Released
On February 29, The Institute for Information Security and Privacy released a Working Paper titled, “Online Privacy and ISPs: ISP Access to Consumer Data is Limited and Often Less than Access by Others.” Peter Swire, Senior Counsel at Alston & Bird and Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology Scheller College of Business authored the […]