Dear reader
For as many years as I can remember, my mantra at the beginning of the year has been that "This year, privacy and data protection will be high on the Board agenda." And each year, with a few exceptions, it hasn't.
But perhaps 2015 will be different. For instance, there were quite a few comments at Davos about loss of trust in the US consumer technology giants, drawing parallels with the banking industry.
For other reasons, privacy and data protection is in the news, as the terrorist attacks in France have brought into focus the rights of the State to intercept and monitor communications for security purposes.
So, standing at the meeting point for the conflicting forces of privacy, freedom of expression, security and 'big data', data protection law is demanding more attention.
In the USA, as reported in the FT recently, President Obama proposed 3 bills which call for companies to provide speedy information to customers who suffer a data breach (e.g. theft of credit card data) and to implement protections for information collected by tablets. computers and other technologies in the classroom. He also urged the creation of a consumer privacy bill of rights, which would set rules for the way that personal information is used an stored by tech companies.
One of the criticisms levelled at data protection law is its fragmentation and lack of consistency across different jurisdictions. In Europe, the Commission is keen to complete its review of the 1996 Data Protection Directive and have it updated by a new Data Protection Regulation and, in that way, to drive consistency as part of its single digital market agenda.
we have summarised the key changes which are contained in the draft of the new Regulation, and what action you should be taking now to prepare for these changes. Although it's aimed at publishers, most of our comments are applicable generally. We hope you find it an interesting read and, of course, will be happy to answer any questions you have.
Have a good week,
Laurie Kaye
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