About: online privacy
China passes tough new online privacy law
China passed a sweeping privacy law aimed at preventing businesses from collecting sensitive personal data Friday, as the country faces an uptick in internet scams and Beijing targets tech giants hoovering up personal data.
EU’s Vestager has ‘reservations’ about online privacy proposals
Margrethe Vestager, the executive vice-president of the European Commission, said on Friday (19 March) that she has "reservations" about a proposal from the Portuguese EU Presidency to unblock negotiations on the ePrivacy regulation.
ePrivacy: Over-regulation or opportunity?
As debate over the draft ePrivacy Regulation resumes, it transpires that economic research from the ad tech lobby has grossly misled the European Parliament and the Council, writes Dr Johnny Ryan.
Facebook under pressure for weak consumer policy
European regulators will announce next week whether they will punish Facebook for its consumer terms and conditions, after the company was warned in February that its rules do not comply with EU law.
Civil Liberties MEPs want EU-US Privacy Shield suspended by September
MEPs in the European Parliament’s powerful Civil Liberties Committee (LIBE) want the European Commission to suspend its Privacy Shield agreement with the United States unless the Trump administration introduces data protection safeguards by 1 September, in a move that comes amid mounting transatlantic political tensions.
Zuckerberg’s Parliament meeting ‘the right thing’, says EU justice chief
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s meeting on Tuesday afternoon (22 May) with European Parliament leaders is “the right thing for himself” after the company’s recent data collection scandal, EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova said in an interview.
German court rules Facebook use of personal data illegal
A German consumer rights group said on Monday (12 February) that a court had found Facebook's use of personal data to be illegal because the US social media platform did not adequately secure the informed consent of its users.
Commission lobbies for police access to website owners list
The European Commission has suggested that law enforcement authorities could soon have restricted access to the WHOIS database that identifies website owners because the system is on a collision course with the EU’s strict new data protection law.
Falque-Pierrotin leaves top EU post before dawn of ‘new era’ for privacy
EU regulators have forced tech giants to comply with the bloc's strict data protection rules. But when Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin took over as top EU privacy watchdog in 2014, she said the mostly American companies were ignorant about Europe’s strict standards and thought "the world is uniform".
Facebook tries out charm offensive with four EU Commissioners
Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg attempted to woo a team of four EU Commissioners during closed-door meetings Tuesday (23 January) on tense issues like hate speech and online platform transparency.
Top EU privacy watchdog wants centralised regulator with muscle to police firms
EU lawmakers should create a new, centralised data protection authority to oversee investigations of privacy breaches that affect more than member state in the bloc, Giovanni Buttarelli, the EU’s top privacy watchdog, said in an interview.
Privacy Shield: A strong framework for transatlantic digital trade
The Privacy Shield agreement has already improved data protection and digital trade between the EU and the US in its first year, and that should continue, writes Victoria A. Espinel.
MEPs want Commission to toughen up Privacy Shield under Trump
The European Parliament wants the European Commission to 'Trump-proof' the Privacy Shield data sharing agreement between the EU and the United States after the new US administration threatened to roll back some privacy safeguards.
Telecoms firms and internet services like WhatsApp face tougher new privacy rules
Telecoms providers will face fines of up to €20 million or 4% of global turnover if they're caught breaking new EU privacy rules that will also hit firms processing vast amounts of machine data in the internet of things.
WhatsApp and Skype targeted in Commission’s revamp of telecoms laws
Internet companies like WhatsApp and Skype are worried they'll have to comply with new EU telecoms laws for the first time when the European Commission proposes a legislative overhaul this September.
Privacy Shield forced US to be ‘transparent’ about intelligence agencies
The controversial Privacy Shield agreement, which was signed today (12 July), forced the United States to be unusually transparent about the operations of its intelligence agencies, a top American official has claimed.
Refocus the data debate around individuals
Europe's new privacy rules give businesses a chance to innovate – and Facebook is starting a new coalition on personal data, writes Stephen Deadman.
EU, US sign ‘Umbrella Agreement’ on data protection
The European Union and the United States on Thursday signed a deal to protect personal data transferred across the Atlantic in a bid to fight crime and terrorism.
EU cybersecurity and police chiefs reach breakthrough agreement on encryption
Two EU agencies that have been on opposite sides of a heated debate over encryption just agreed on limits to law enforcement agencies' access to private data.
Google invokes free speech in French fine appeal
Google said Thursday (19 May) it feared for free speech if France succeeded in forcing it to apply the right to have information about a person removed from its search engines not just in France, but worldwide.
EU privacy watchdogs demand improvements to ‘Privacy Shield’
European privacy watchdogs gave a damning verdict of the Privacy Shield, the draft deal for data transfers from the EU to the US, and warned the European Commission to shore up gaps in the new agreement on national security agencies.
Oettinger: Privacy Shield should take effect in June
The Privacy Shield data transfer agreement with the US could go into effect this June, EU Digital Commissioner Günther Oettinger said yesterday (14 March).
Commission wants EU-US ‘Privacy Shield’ by end of June
The European Commission is racing to rubberstamp its Privacy Shield agreement to allow companies to transfer data to the United States.
Commission’s ‘Umbrella Agreement’ with US under fire from MEPs
The US-EU Safe Harbour agreement allowed over 4,000 companies to transfer data from the EU to the US - provided the companies guaranteed the data's security abroad.