Category data protection

October 4, 2015,  data protection, EU General Data Protection Regulation, News, Thought Leadership  No comments

Each day more and more comment is emerging on the lack of preparedness of business to deal with the forthcoming EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the need to put education and training on the top of the business agenda – and you may find these two very recent news items of interest and helpful.

We’ve been briefing a Member of the Government’s Treasury Select Committee a few weeks’ ago when we highlighted the issue of GDPR is simply much bigger than a digital marketing issue under ICO’s remit reporting into the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

Check out this recent news item

We strongly support the idea of a debate in the British Parliam...

September 24, 2015,  Council of Ministers, data protection, EU General Data Protection Regulation, European Commission, European Parliament, Legal update, News, Thought Leadership  No comments

This week the blogosphere went into overdrive with the news that the non-binding legal opinion of the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice claims that EU user data transferred to the US by various technology companies is a violation of current EU data protection and privacy laws.

Even before this opinion, the European Commission was already attempting to re-negotiate the Safe Harbor Agreement with the US...

July 26, 2015,  Council of Ministers, data protection, EU General Data Protection Regulation, European Commission, European Parliament, News  No comments

For Working Party 29 (WP29), the role of the Data Protection Officer (DPO) under the forthcoming EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the cornerstone of accountability as well as being a real tool of competitiveness for companies.

Tasked with the implementation of accountability tools that include the policies, procedures documentation, data protection impact assessments as well as internal training for all employees entrusted with handling customer data, the DPO is more like a ‘compliance orchestrator’ in much the same way as a conductor of a symphony orchestra, such as Parsee-born Zubin Mehta, conductor of the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra.

In its advice not...

July 12, 2015,  data protection, EU General Data Protection Regulation, European Commission, European Parliament, Legal update  No comments

It’s no exaggeration to claim but when the history of data protection and privacy is written 10 years from now, one company will be credited with having had the most influence over the shape of data protection and privacy across the European Union (EU).

And it’s Google.

No week goes past without some reference to one of the most powerful digital companies on the planet. And this week just gone has been no exception.

On Thursday 9 July, Google was forced to revise its privacy policy after the Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) threatened to fine company €15m. Google will now have to seek new users’ permission to combine their personal data throughout its services...

June 24, 2015,  Council of Ministers, data protection, EU General Data Protection Regulation, European Commission, European Parliament, Events  No comments

Speaking after the first Trilogue meeting today, Jan Philipp Albrecht, Rapporteur for the European Parliament said that agreement between the European Commission, Parliament and Council of Ministers may be achievable by the end of 2015 alongside the Data Protection Directive for law enforcement – the so-called EU Police Directive.

Speaking to reporters, Albrecht said: “The Trilogue (negotiations) today showed very clearly that agreement is feasible if all parties are open to compromise. All parties are committed to the timetable. The texts are actually a lot closer to each other now than we thought a few months ago.”

He was referring to the versions of GDPR that each si...

June 9, 2015,  Banks, Council of Ministers, data protection, EU General Data Protection Regulation, European Commission, European Parliament  No comments

According to Varonis (Nasdaq:VRNS), a leading provider of software solutions for unstructured, human-generated enterprise data, banks will be among the first to be hit with massive fines for falling foul of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

In a poll conducted at Cebit – Europe’s largest IT show – the company revealed the level of how unprepared the financial services sector is to life under GDPR. Notably, 50% of all respondents that took part in the survey worked within the European banking sector.

According to Varonis, despite the small sample size of 145 respondents, its survey reflects a much wide degree of how under prepared the financial servic...

February 28, 2015,  data protection, EU General Data Protection Regulation, Legal update, Marketing practice, News, Social marketing practice  No comments

We have two feature articles written by Ardi Kolah:

Data protection rules overhaul – Top Tips for compliance

Extract: Data protection and the security of data is perhaps the biggest issue facing the advertising and marketing sector from a business continuity perspective as to get this badly wrong opens the door to punitive fines of up to five per cent of global turnover or €100m. Ardi Kolah shares his top ten tips for marketers.

Urgent Action is Required as Data Breaches hit Record Highs

Extract: According to global digital security firm Gemalto, 1,541 data breaches in 2014 led to one billion data records being compromised, representing a four per cent increase in data...

February 14, 2015,  Council of Ministers, data protection, EU General Data Protection Regulation, European Commission, European Parliament, News  No comments

The Presidency of the EU Council is in the hands of the Latvians until June and urged on by European Commission they’ve highlighted data protection reform across Europe as a key priority. Data protection reform may not grab national news headlines here in the UK but the consequences of what will become law across all 28 EU Member States will have far reaching implications for the Government put in charge of running the country after the British General Election is decided in May 2015.

As discussed in blogs on this and many other websites, the spate of data breaches and the security implications for millions of European citizens continues to grow bigger on a daily basis.

And...