Marriot International has been fined a total of £18.4 million (a reduction from the original £99 million) for its negligence in safeguarding customer personal data that it is responsible for. This breach is interesting, as the breach initially occurred in 2014 (before the GDPR came into effect) and the breach occurred under a different business group 'Starwood Hotels Group' which was acquired by Marriott after the breach occurred.
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British Airways airline company has been fined the “biggest to date” sum of £20 Million, by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for failing to protect the personal data of data subjects which resulted in a security breach.
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As a member of the European Union, member states are obliged to abide by some of the strictest privacy laws in the world. Today, UK, French and Belgian national governments all use some form of mass surveillance. In recent years, privacy groups have taken claims to EU courts arguing that this surveillance is illegal. The national governments disagree. The CJEU refuted the claims that mass surveillance is outside their jurisdiction and issued a ruling on the 6th October 2020.
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India is drafting its first bill that aims to protect the personal data of its citizens. This articles goes over the key differences between the GDPR and the new Indian Personal Data Protection Bill (PDPB) and discusses some controversies surrounding it.
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On the 16th July 2020, the CJEU came to a decision on the Schrems II case. The decision invalidated a major EU-US privacy agreement that previously allowed personal data to freely flow between the EU and the US. This court case is the latest chapter in an ongoing saga of privacy activists, commercial selling of ‘big data’ and revelations made by whistle blower Edward Snowden. This article gives a brief timeline of the events leading up to this case.
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If you have not reviewed your cookie policy since October of 2019, it may not be. Many large corporations appear to be ignorant of a ruling (case C-673/17 - Planet49) that was made by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The ruling clarifies how cookies should be managed and the subsequent impact on cookie statements. Indeed, many corporations appear to be breaking the law, even 7 months after the ruling.
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Contact tracing is currently successfully employed in the UK to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. It is hoped that the development of the NHS app can prevent the spread of Covid-19. Unfortunately, there have been significant concerns over user privacy. There has been debate and even controversy on the centralised vs. decentralised approach.
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The UK government’s job retention scheme has protected 7.5 million workers and almost 1 million businesses. From the start of August 2020, employers will be asked to pay a percentage towards the salaries of their furloughed staff. Will businesses be able to re-employ all their furloughed workers or will we see a significant number of them being made redundant?
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