This survey follows the CNIL’s announcement on 24 November 2022 that it aims at “better understanding the economic challenges associated with the collection and processing of personal data in mobile applications” as part of its 2022-2024 strategic plan.

The CNIL considered data collection via mobile applications greatly lacks transparency as opposed to cookies collection on websites.

The expected inputs are to be used for the purpose of drafting recommendations to be submitted to public consultation during the second semester of this year.

Concurrently to its ever-active enforcement of website cookie framework, the CNIL also recently started going after mobile applications for their use of personal data, often leverage as a primary source of revenue for free-to-play mobile games. The most recent example being the French mobile game publisher Voodoo SAS, with a fine of EUR3 million for breach of user consent for targeted ads on 29 December 2022. Indeed, the CNIL considered that even when users did not consent to the tracking for advertising purposes, Voodoo still accessed the IDFV (Apple’s “IDentifier For Vendors” (“IDFV”) – an identifier assigned to app operators, which facilitates targeted advertising) and processed browsing information for advertising purposes, constituting a violation of French privacy law and the GDPR.

The CNIL now calls for economic contributions from experts, interest groups, regulatory entities and experienced private individuals in the field. The call for contributions closes on 10 February 2023. Contributions can be submitted by completing a questionnaire and/or a written statement at the following email address: ecodesapplis@cnil.fr.

All contributions will be covered by professional secrecy and will be published in the form of a synthetic and aggregated report.

First publication on Cyber Law Watch with Camille Scarparo.

Très heureux d’avoir accueilli ce matin en nos locaux GEOTAB pour la conférence « Flottes connectées, réglementation et expériences réussies », modérée par François Denis, Directeur Général France GEOTAB.

Claude-Etienne Armingaud, CIPP/E, associé Protection des données, nous a exposé les enjeux du droit des données à caractère personnel en lien avec les véhicules connectés.

Pascal Six, Business Development Manager, a retracé la manière dont GEOTAB a développé et continue d’adapter son offre, dans le respect des lois applicables en matière de protection des données à caractère personnel.

Pour terminer, Bertrand MATHIEU Directeur des Opérations VAC / Hardouin Loc, nous a fait part de son expérience client réussie avec GEOTAB.

Merci aux intervenants et participants !

Sending unsolicited marketing emails could prove costly to UK organisations, as bike and car accessory retailer Halfords have recently discovered.

Last month, Halfords were handed a fine of £30,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for sending around half a million unsolicited marketing email messages to customers who had not previously opted-in to marketing (see here).

The fine was issued under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), which gives people specific privacy rights in relation to electronic communications and restricts how unsolicited direct marketing is carried out.

An investigation carried out by the ICO found that the retailer broke the laws governing electronic communications by sending out emails relating to a government voucher scheme that gave people £50 off the cost of repairing a bike at any participating store or mechanic in England. The email not only pointed customers to the government website, it also invited them to book a bike assessment and to redeem their voucher at their chosen Halfords store. The ICO concluded that the insinuation of Halfords having a direct connection with the government scheme encouraged its customers to redeem the voucher in its stores and that Halfords was therefore advertising its own services.

PECR prevents organisations from sending emails or messages to people unless they have consented to it or they are an existing customer who has bought similar products or services in the past (known as the “soft opt-in” rule).

Halfords argued that the email constituted a service message and should not be categorised as direct marketing, but the ICO maintained that the email did constitute direct marketing because it satisfied the definition of such under Paragraph 35 of the ICO’s Direct Marketing Guidance (see here).  In addition, the ICO concluded that the soft opt-in rule could not apply because the targeted customers had already opted out. 

Andy Curry, Head of Investigations at the ICO said: “This [decision] sends a message to similar organisations to review their electronic marketing operations, and that we will take necessary action if they break the law.”

First publication: K&L Gates Cyber Law Watch in collaboration with Keisha Phippen

Claude-Etienne, Armingaud, Associé
K&L Gates

Stéphane Bonifassi, Associé fondateur
Bonifassi Avocats

Les options d’examen et d’analyse assistées par la technologie sont de plus en plus utilisées dans les enquêtes internes et externes, notamment par les multinationales. L’utilisation de l’analyse des données peut apporter efficacité, précision et réduction des coûts. Cependant, le croisement entre le droit et la technologie soulève des préoccupations uniques en matière de protection de la vie privée et d’autres questions juridiques lors des enquêtes internes et externes : cette session permettra de vous mettre à niveau. Les sujets de discussion incluront :

  • Étudier la manière dont l’analyse des données et la découverte électronique peuvent aider les enquêtes multinationales.
  • Comprendre vos obligations selon la loi Schrems II, le RGPD et d’autres législations.
  • Apprendre les meilleures pratiques pour se conformer à ces obligations lors des enquêtes internes ou externes, de la diligence raisonnable et de la dénonciation des dysfonctionnements.
  • Comparer et intégrer des lignes directrices de la CNIL et du Conseil européen de la protection des données, entre autres.
  • Déterminer l’impact de la proposition de cadre transatlantique pour la protection des données sur votre pratique quotidienne.

Plus d’information

Read the full text.

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Following the positions expressed by the Austrian, German and French Supervisory Authorities (see our previous Alert), the Italian Supervisory Authority (Garante per la Protezione dei Dati Personali, Garante-) published on 9 June 2022 a specific measure, according to which website analytics solutions used to measure online audience (Analytics Service Solutions) infringe on the EU General Data Protection Regulation no. 2016/679 (GDPRexternal source) when such use implies a transfer of personal data to a third country without an adequate level of personal data protection, such as the United States. Generally speaking, the Garante, aligned its position on the matter with its counterparts.

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The UK Government has finally published its highly anticipated Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (the Bill), marking the first significant post-Brexit change to the UK’s data protection regime. Following Brexit, the UK continued following the EU General Data Protection Regulation, incorporated into UK law as the UK GDPR, and the UK implementation of the EU ePrivacy Directive, the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR), also remained in force.

The Bill is only at the start of the legislative process, and it remains to be seen how it will develop if it is amended during its passage through Parliament, but early indications are that it represents more of an evolution than a revolution in the UK regime. That will come as a relief to businesses that transfer personal data from the EU to the UK, because it reduces the risk that the EU might rescind the UK’s adequacy status.

For a start, the Bill actually preserves the UK GDPR, its enabling legislation the Data Protection Act 2018, and the PECR, because it is drafted as an amending act rather than a completely new legislative instrument. This does not contribute to user-friendliness, as interpreting UK data protection requirements will require a great deal of cross-referencing across texts.

The more eye-catching proposed changes in the Bill include:

  • The inclusion of a list of “legitimate interests” that will automatically qualify as being covered by the lawful basis in UK GDPR Article 6(e).
  • Some limitations on data subject access requests, such as the possibility of refusing “vexatious or excessive” requests.
  • More exemptions from the requirement to obtain consent to cookies.
  • Much higher fees for breach of PECR.

The Bill will now progress through various Parliamentary stages over the coming months in order to become law.

First Publication: K&L Gates Cyber Law Watch in collaboration with Noirin McFadden & Keisha Phippen

Individuals having difficulties in obtaining responses to their personal data subject access requests (DSAR) from French telephone operator Free Mobile filed several complaints before the Frenchdata protection authority (CNIL). These requests related to accessing their personal data and objecting to receiving direct marketing messages by electronic means. After its investigations, the CNIL imposed a fine of €300,000 against Free Mobile on 28 December 2021.

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Following the 2020 Court of Justice of the European Union’s (CJEU) ruling invalidating the Privacy Shield (see our alert here), personal data transfers from the European Union to the United States required EU companies to implement additional safeguard mechanisms, as the CJEU considered that U.S. legislation did not provide sufficient guarantees against the risk of access by public authorities (including intelligence services) to the imported data.

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In the Queen’s speech at the state opening of parliament on 10 May 2022, the UK government announced its intention to change the UK’s data protection regime in a new Data Reform Bill. This follows a consultation last Autumn on how the UK GDPR could be reformed following the UK’s exit from the European Union (EU).

The government claims that the new Bill would:

  • Create a data protection framework focused on “privacy outcomes” that would reduce the burdens on businesses, and a “clearer regulatory environment” to encourage “responsible innovation”.
  • Ensure that citizens’ data is “protected to a gold standard”, while enabling more efficient sharing of data between public bodies.
  • Modernise the Information Commissioner’s Office and require it to be “more accountable to Parliament and the public”.

The Queen’s speech also announced plans to replace the Human Rights Act 1998, which incorporated the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law. According to the government a new “Bill of Rights” would “end the abuse of the human rights framework and restore some common sense to [the] justice system”. This would be achieved by “establishing the primacy of UK case law”, which means that UK courts would no longer be required to follow the case law of the European Court of Human Rights.

Taken together, both of these proposed new legislative measures could change the balance of protection of individuals’ rights in the UK, both generally and in the specific area of personal data regulation. Their development will be closely watched by data protection professionals, because any significant changes in the UK data protection regime could prompt the EU to review its post-Brexit UK adequacy decision, potentially leading to the end of decades of seamless transfers of personal data from the EU to the UK.

First publication on K&L Gates Cyber Law Watch in collaboration with Nóirín McFadden