data protection law
Adtech’s compliance theatre is headed to Europe’s top court
For those watching the slow motion unpicking of surveillance advertising in the European Union here’s a fresh development on the long and winding road to a long-overdue legal reckoning: Multiple
UK closely probing four tech firms over kids’ privacy code breaches
The U.K. could be gearing up to hit a handful of tech firms with enforcement orders (and potentially fines) related to a children’s online privacy and safety Code which has been in force for a y
A huge Chinese database of faces and vehicle license plates spilled online
A massive Chinese database storing millions of faces and vehicle license plates was left exposed on the internet for months before it quietly disappeared in August. While its contents might seem unrem
Twitter faces privacy scrutiny from EU watchdogs after Mudge report
The explosive Twitter whistleblower complaint that was made public yesterday — detailing a raft of damning allegations across security, privacy and data protection issues (among others) by Twitt
Sensitive data ruling by Europe’s top court could force broad privacy reboot
A ruling put out yesterday by the European Union’s top court could have major implications for online platforms that use background tracking and profiling to target users with behavioral ads or
Europe’s health data reuse plan needs some surgery, say privacy supervisors
A proposal put forward by European Union lawmakers in May, to establish a legal framework to make it easier to share electronic health records and other medical data — across borders and care in
Google’s ‘deceptive’ account sign-up process targeted with GDPR complaints
Consumer rights groups in Europe have filed a new series of privacy complaints against Google — accusing the advertising giant of deceptive design around the account creation process that they say s
Uh oh! European carriers are trying to get into ‘personalized’ ad targeting
As Google works on reconfiguring its adtech stack to move away from cookie-based ad targeting to something else that’s not yet fixed but which it claims will be better for individual web users&#
UK wants to replace cookie pop-ups with browser-based opt-outs
The U.K. government has published its final response to a data ‘reform’ consultation it kicked off last year, laying out how it intends to diverge from EU-based data protection rules. At f
UK opts for slow reboot of Big Tech rules, pushes ahead on privacy ‘reforms’
The U.K. government has confirmed it will move forward on a major ex ante competition reform aimed at Big Tech, as it set out its priorities for the new parliamentary session earlier today. However it
Study of Apple’s ATT impact highlights competition concerns
An interesting new study of 1,759 iOS apps before and after Apple implemented a major privacy feature last year which required developers to ask permission to track app users — aka App Tracking
EU-US trans-Atlantic data transfers ‘deal in principle’ faces tough legal review
The political agreement reached late last month between the European Union and the United States on a new trans-Atlantic data transfers pact, which aims to end years of legal uncertainty for businesse
TikTok children’s privacy lawsuit can proceed, says UK High Court
A UK High Court judge has granted permission for a class-action style privacy lawsuit to proceed against TikTok over its handling of children’s data. The lawsuit was filed back in December 2020
More deceptive cookie banners targeted in latest noyb EU action
European privacy advocacy group noyb has fired off a second batch of cookie consent complaints (270 in total) targeting websites in the region that it says are failing to properly request users’
Public sector bodies’ use of cloud services probed in joint EU data protection enforcement
A coordinated enforcement action focused on public sector bodies’ use of cloud services is kicking off across the European Union. More than 80 public bodies in a wide range of sectors, including
On Meta’s ‘regulatory headwinds’ and adtech’s privacy reckoning
What does Meta/Facebook’s favorite new phrase to bandy around in awkward earnings calls — as it warns of “regulatory headwinds” cutting into its future growth — actually
Europe’s top privacy regulator calls for ban on political microtargeting
The European Union’s chief privacy and data protection regulator has urged EU policymakers to strengthen proposed ‘transparency’ rules for political ads — calling instead for m
As its data flows woes grow, Google lobbies for quickie fix to EU-US transfers
As the legal uncertainty in Europe clouding use of US cloud services cranks up, Google has responded by firing up its lobbying engines to call for US and European lawmakers to get a move on and come u
In bad news for US cloud services, Austrian website’s use of Google Analytics found to breach GDPR
A decision by Austria’s data protection watchdog upholding a complaint against a website related to its use of Google Analytics does not bode well for use of US cloud services in Europe. The dec
European parliament found to have broken EU rules on data transfers and cookie consents
The European Union’s chief data protection supervisor has sanctioned the European Parliament for a series of breaches of the bloc’s data protection rules. The decision sounds a loud warnin