The privacy community is mourning the loss of Brazilian data protection scholar Danilo Doneda, who died Sunday, Dec. 4 at the age of 52. Doneda, a member of the IAPP board of directors, pioneered Brazil’s General Data Protection Law and was dedicated to bringing privacy rights to Brazilians.
The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled search engine operators must delete search results if an individual proves information about them is "manifestly inaccurate." The decision comes after Google denied a request by two investment managers to "de-reference" results of a search they claimed produced "inaccurate claims." The German Federal Court of Justice asked the CJEU for its interpretation of the EU General Data Protection Regulation, which governs the right to erasure.
One of two lawsuits filed by Indiana against TikTok claims the platform's data can be used by China to surveil, blackmail and influence users, The Wall Street Journal reports. The second lawsuit accuses TikTok of promoting harmful content to young users. The suits, which seek civil penalties and changes to TikTok's practices, come as some states take action against the platform, including Texas which banned its use on government-related devices.
Leaders in the U.K. and Japan have established the U.K.-Japan Digital Partnership, a framework to "jointly deliver concrete digital policy outcomes" for citizens, businesses and economies. The partnership will focus initially on four pillars: digital infrastructure and technologies, data, digital regulation and standards, and digital transformation.
The European Union's General Court has ruled against a request by WhatsApp Ireland to annul a binding decision by the European Data Protection Board that led to a $267 million EU General Data Protection Regulation fine, TechCrunch reports. WhatsApp's parent company, Meta, is also appealing the fine issued by Ireland's Data Protection Commission.
Despite the Biden administration blacklisting the Israeli firm NSO Group, sales of commercial spyware to governments continue to grow, The New York Times reports. Citing five unnamed sources, the newspaper reported the U.S. "Drug Enforcement Administration is secretly deploying spyware” made by another Israeli company, which has hired former NSO Group employees after its blacklisting.
State Assemblyman Herb Conaway Jr., D-NJ, introduced a bill to create a New Jersey Children’s Data Protection Commission. The legislation concerns “social media privacy and data management standards for children” and establishes a nine-member commission to receive feedback from a “broad range of stakeholders” recommending best practices for protecting children’s personal data online. The bill requires digital companies operating in the state to conduct data protection impact assessments before launching new products likely to be accessed by children.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission released an updated Mobile Health App Interactive Tool. The application, first developed in conjunction with the HHS' Office for Civil Rights, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, and the Food and Drug Administration, aims to help health care app developers determine if the app is compliant with federal laws and regulations. The interactive tool asks users questions about the app's functionality and the data it collects.
Eric Leandri, the co-founder of French search engine Qwant, now runs a startup specializing in cybersurveillance, Politico reports. The search engine nearly went bankrupt before receiving an 8 million euro loan from Chinese telecommunications company Huawei in 2021.
The European Commission is set to publish its draft adequacy decision for EU-U.S. data flows as early as Dec. 12, Politico Pro reports. The draft decision represents approval of U.S. commitments under the proposed EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework concerning intelligence agencies' access to EU personal data. Members of the European Data Protection Board and European Parliament will weigh in with nonbinding opinions on the draft decision before it is finalized.