“The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) is the UKs independent authority set up to uphold information rights in the public interest, promoting openness by public bodies and data privacy for individuals.” Snipped from November 3, 2010 letter from ICO to Global Privacy Counsel, Google France: “My office now understands that GSV (Google Street View) cars driving… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: EU Data Protection
European Commission sets out strategy to strengthen EU data protection rules
“What happens to your personal data when you board a plane, open a bank account, or share photos online? How is this data used and by whom? How do you permanently delete profile information on social networking websites? Can you transfer your contacts and photos to another service? Controlling your information, having access to your… Continue Reading
EPIC: Google Ends Secret Wifi Data Gathering
EPIC: “Following numerous protests around the world, Google has ended its illegal collection of wifi data transmissions. The company, which originally claimed it was not even collecting wifi data, was forced to admit that the practice has been ongoing for three years in more than thirty countries, following an independent investigation initiated by European privacy… Continue Reading
EU Passenger Name Record (PNR) External Strategy; FAQs
EU Passenger Name Record (PNR) External Strategy (9/21/10): “The European Commission adopted today a package of proposals on the exchange of Passenger Name Record (PNR) data with third countries (countries outside the EU), consisting of an EU external PNR strategy and recommendations for negotiating directives for new PNR agreements with the United States, Australia and… Continue Reading
Privacy International Launches System to Shed Light on Controversial Technologies
EPIC: “International watchdog Privacy International has announced the launch of a new website for bringing transparency to “technical mysteries” behind controversial systems. Cracking the Black Box identifies key questions regarding mysterious technologies and asks experts, whistleblowers, and other concerned parties to “help crack the box” by anonymously contributing ideas and input. The organization responsible for… Continue Reading
EU data protection group says Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! do not comply with data protection rules
Article 29 Data Protection Working Party Press Release, Brussels, 26 May 2010: EU data protection group says Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! do not comply with data protection rules “The Article 29 Data Protection Working Party, a group of European data protection authorities, today told the three major search engine operators Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft… Continue Reading
No EU-US Agreement on Transfer of EU Financial Data to US or Deployment of Airport Body Scanners
Follow up to previous postings on government implementation of whole body scanning technology at airports, via EPIC: “A meeting between top United States counter-terrorism officials and European counterparts ended in Madrid today with no agreement to restart a program that gave the US access to European financial data. The Terrorist Finance Tracking Program operated in… Continue Reading
The eYouGuide now speaks 10 languages
The eYouGuide, Europe’s first online tool giving consumers practical advice on their “digital rights” under EU law is now available in 10 languages. “The eYouGuide was launched in Strasbourg on 5 May 2009 (see IP/09/702). The guide provides information on a number of issues related to online activities, such as shopping online, networking, uploading and… Continue Reading
Rand: Review of the European Data Protection Directive
Review of the European Data Protection Directive, by Neil Robinson, Hans Graux, Maarten Botterman, Lorenzo Valeri “The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) asked a multidisciplinary international research team led by RAND Europe with time-lex and GNKS-Consult to review the strengths and weaknesses of the European Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC and propose avenues for improvement. The Directive… Continue Reading
Database State – a comprehensive map of UK government databases
Database State, Executive Summary and Full Report – By Ross Anderson, Ian Brown, Terri Dowty, Philip Inglesant, William Heath, Angela Sasse, Foundation for Information Policy Research (March 2009) “In recent years, the Government has built or extended many central databases that hold information on every aspect of our lives, from health and education to welfare,… Continue Reading
Commission consults on how to put Europe into the lead of the transition to Web 3.0
News release, September 29, 2008: “Europe could take the lead in the next generation of the Internet. The European Commission today outlined the main steps that Europe has to take to respond to the next wave of the Information Revolution that will intensify in the coming years due to trends such as social networking, the… Continue Reading
Google Announces Revised User Record Retention Policy
Official Google Blog: “we’re announcing a new logs retention policy: we’ll anonymize IP addresses on our server logs after 9 months. We’re significantly shortening our previous 18-month retention policy to address regulatory concerns and to take another step to improve privacy for our users.” Related: Google Response to the [EU] Article 29 Working Party Opinion… Continue Reading
