Data protection
A GDPR impact assessment for websites
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into effect in 25 May 2018. It replaces the Data Protection Directive (implemented in the UK as the Data Protection Act 1998). This document addresses GDPR with the narrow focus of websites. For a broader discussion on the impact of GDPR on law firms, you might like to […]
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GDPR – beyond the panic
“So, have I missed the boat to get ready for the GDPR?” “Will I get fined for not being fully up to speed?” “What is the worst thing that can happen if I am not complying by May 2018?” These are some of the most frequently asked questions currently accompanying the efforts (or lack of […]
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Privacy in 2017
After all of the 2016 drama, the start of a brand new year is a welcome development in itself – a clean sheet for a script yet to be written. However, 2017 will not be without challenges and the same applies to the world of privacy and data protection. Many of the big issues that […]
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Confidently confidential
This article considers two recent developments relating to data protection and trade secrets: two sides of the same coin perhaps. Cloud computing and extra-territoriality The first development concerns the recent spat between the United States and Microsoft, not as previously an issue of antitrust compliance, but rather a question of privacy and data protection in […]
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Introducing the GDPR
Towards the end of 2015, the EU institutions reached agreement on a new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which will replace the 1995 Data Protection Directive, seeking to implement a stricter and more harmonised data privacy regime. The new GDPR, which was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 4 May 2016 […]
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Is the Privacy Shield adequate?
For decades, overcoming the limitations of European data protection law to transfer personal data to countries outside the European Union has been a compliance priority for organisations operating internationally. Global data flows are part of the fabric of modern communications and everyday commercial and social interactions. This is especially true of the transatlantic relations between […]
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Life after Safe Harbor – an action plan
On 6 October 2015, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) declared the EU–US Safe Harbor framework invalid as a mechanism to legitimise transfers of personal data from the EU to the US. This decision effectively leaves any organisation that relied on Safe Harbor exposed to claims that such data transfers are unlawful […]
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Every silver lining has a cloud
In the last issue, I started looking at the issues of cloud computing and some of the data protection issues. This article continues that analysis. The Article 29 Working Party On 1 July 2012, the EU’s Article 29 Working Party adopted an Opinion (05/2012) on Cloud Computing, in which it analysed all relevant issues for […]
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Data Privacy Law app
Ireland’s first dedicated Data Privacy Law app has been launched by leading Irish firm A&L Goodbody. The Irish Data Protection Commissioner supports this useful tool as it is aimed at senior management, privacy law professionals and in-house lawyers who need to respond to an increasing number of data protection requirements and challenges that data security […]
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Importing online contacts and data protection
To say that online networking has revolutionised the way we interact socially and professionally with others is a massive understatement. Social and professional networking services, which did not even exist at the beginning of the 21st century, have become the driving force of Web 2.0 and their growth rate is a simply a reflection of […]
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Data protection goes global
The ability to store and share data nationally and globally over the internet creates massive opportunities but also substantial threats. Data protection, once the concern of a small group of professionals, has become a major focus of politicians, company directors, the public sector and private individuals. Data and the databases in which information is stored […]
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