Category: Legislation

Yes please I would like a cookie :-P

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12 May 2011

11:05

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European Union, Legislation

I’ve been posting about this before, the thing on “cookie consent” in the new EU privacy law. Well now there have been some guidelines published by the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Simply advice is as follows:

We advise you to now take the following steps:
1. Check what type of cookies and similar technologies you use
and how you use them.
2. Assess how intrusive your use of cookies is.
3. Decide what solution to obtain consent will be best in your
circumstances.

The main difference in behaviour is often those using cookies to collect your behaviour data used to by default give you the option to opt-out, however now you must consent, i.e. opt-in. This is now aligned to the general collection of personal data in the EU.

Canada wants to start imposing fines

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5 May 2011

19:47

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Canada, Information Privacy, Legislation

I knew that the privacy laws in Canada were pretty strict, at least when compared with the U.S. variants 😉 Although compared to the E.U. they are lacking in that the privacy commissioners don’t have the power to impose fines on offenders. This could be changing as there is some pressure now to change this. Read more in the Financial Post.

More CCTV to come for Sweden

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23 June 2010

21:02

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Anonymity, Legislation, Sweden

The Swedish Minister of Justice, Beatrice Ask, announced this Monday that she was positive to changing the legislation regarding CCTV in public areas. Unfortunately, she wants to make it easier to set up cameras. Also, she proposes that store owners should not need to get permission beforehand. Instead, it should be enough to notify some time after the camera has been installed.

In brief, she is for making it easier for business owners and municipalities to install CCTV. She also want’s the governing of CCVT to be handled by the The Swedish Data Inspection Board (it was previously handled by the different county administrations). So one bad and one good then. But this statement made by Beatrice is a bit worrying:

“- It is about specific, defined areas where camera surveillance is very important as a preventive measure especially in the case of theft and burglary”. Sounds good, but this statement is not backed up by any proof. I’ve mentioned this in a previous post.

Even more worrying is that the opposing parties only object to that it has taken her so long to propose this change. One can only hope that this is all to get voters for the upcoming election this September.

UK national ID card scheme to be scrapped!

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16 May 2010

07:05

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Legislation, U.K.

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Wow, I love this news that UK’scoalition government will be keeping their promises to “reverse and restrain many of the surveillance systems that have marked its citizens out as the most watched in the world,” THINQ.co.uk reports. Plans include scrapping the National Identity Register and ID card, as well as biometric passports, and expanding the Freedom of Information Act. Other coalition commitments include removing innocent people’s records from the DNA database, regulating the use of CCTV and halting the prior government’s plan to retain national records of e-mail and communications data.

This will include a proposal to “outlaw” the finger-printing of children at school “without parental permission”. It will be interesting to see how they pan out in the statistics department for Privacy International “Most surveyed countries report” in a couple of years 🙂

New Federal Data Protection Act in Mexico

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30 April 2010

17:06

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Information Privacy, Legislation, Mexico

Mexico’s Senate on Tuesday unanimously approved the Federal Data Protection Act. The law establishes the rights and principles of data protection in the private sector. According to Mr. M. Jorge Yanez V., a partner at the law firm of Barrera, Siqueiros y Torres Landa, S.C. in Mexico City, on April 13, 2010, the Mexican Chamber of Deputies has passed a bill that has become the country’s new Federal Law of Protection of Personal Information. Read more at Hunton & Williams privacy blog…

Hence this means that although personal data in Mexico first emerged in the shadow of the right to access public information it is now recognised as a fundamental constitutional right. To understand more about the background on right for personal privacy in Mexico you can read this essay at dataprotection.review.eu., edited by the data protection agency of Madrid and in English 🙂

The U.S. Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 due for overhaul thinks Microsoft

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8 April 2010

20:38

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Legislation, Privacy of communications, U.S.

Interesting development concerning the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, again following on from one of Jack’s twitters 🙂

Big companies such as Microsoft and AT&T and advocacy groups from different parts of the political spectrum have joined forces in the newly formed Digital Due Process coalition intent on strengthening online privacy and to lobby the government on this. Other members include the left-leaning Electronic Frontier Foundation and American Civil Liberties Union as well as the libertarian Progress and Freedom Foundation and Competitive Enterprise Institute.