The Republic of Slovenia’s National Assembly, the Drzavni Zbor, voted 50-8 to adopt the Personal Data Protection Act. The legislation “transposes” the EU General Data Protection Regulation into Slovenian, as the country met all the requirements to fully implement the GDPR.
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance Australia paid an AU$2 million fine, handed down by the Australian Communications and Media Authority, for spamming customers. An ACMA investigation found the company sent more than 5.7 million spam emails advertising trading services without obtaining consent from the recipients, between October 2021 and May 2022.
National data protection authorities in Europe are establishing sandboxes to allow companies to experiment with their algorithms, but some companies have been reluctant to expose their systems to regulators without relief from EU General Data Protection Regulation requirements during experimentation. IAPP Managing Director, Europe, Isabelle Roccia hosted a Linkedin Live session Dec.
Recent data breaches in Australia highlighted the lack of effective privacy controls in organizations and led to changes to the Privacy Act 1988, including increased penalties from AU$2.2 million to AU$50 million.
On Dec. 13, the European Commission released its highly anticipated draft adequacy decision for the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework. Included within this latest draft is an update to similar privacy principles that were found within in the predecessor arrangement, the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework.
The U.K. government and Dubai International Financial Centre Authority released a joint statement committing to increased facilitation of personal data flows. The two sides called the new agreement "a robust data bridge" that will help realize "the benefits of the important role that the trustworthy use of data across borders play." The U.K.
Lawmakers are questioning tax filing companies, Meta and Google over the sharing of users' financial information, The Markup reports. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and others cited a report by The Markup that companies — including H&R Block and TaxAct — shared filers' data with Facebook through Meta Pixel code. TaxAct also reportedly shared data with Google.
Technology trade association NetChoice filed a lawsuit against the state of California aiming to block the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act from taking effect, The New York Times reports. The group, whose membership includes most major Big Tech platforms, submitted a complaint alleging the recently-passed legislation "presses companies to serve as roving censors of speech on the internet." The law is set to take effect July 1, 2024, and includes requirements for privacy-by-default settings and data protection impact assessments.
In the U.S., 96% of applications used in schools share student personal information with third parties, CyberScoop reports, citing a study conducted by Internet Safety Labs. The data is shared with advertisers often without informing or obtaining consent from students or the schools, the study found.