The European Commission (‘EC’) published on 1 March 2018 its Recommendation on measures to effectively tackle illegal content online (‘Recommendation’)¹, which applies to hosting service providers such as YouTube and Facebook. The Recommendation follows the EC’s Communication of 28 September 2017 on tackling illegal content online (‘Communication’)². In the Communication, the EC announced it would monitor progress in tackling such content, and assess whether additional measures were needed to ensure the swift and proactive detection and removal of illegal content online. In this article, Dr Torsten Kraul, Associated Partner at Noerr, examines the Recommendation, which sets forth a set of operational measures to be followed by service providers and Member States, with the EC to monitor the success of these before determining whether to propose legislation in this area. / read more

The EU’s Directive on the Security of Network and Information Systems (‘NIS’) must be implemented into local law by 9 May 2018, with the aim of securing network and information systems of operators of essential services and digital service providers. The UK Government recently completed a consultation that it began in August 2017 to obtain views on its proposals for implementing NIS. James Walsh of Fieldfisher LLP considers the UK Government’s response and the practical issues facing UK businesses, and comments that while some progress has been made, businesses may find that the Government’s revised approach creates more questions than answers. / read more

The European Commission (‘EC’) published on 21 March 2018 two distinct legislative proposals aimed at reforming the taxation of digital business activities in the EU. The first proposal, indicated as a preferred long-term solution by the EC, would reform corporate tax rules so that businesses pay tax on their profits where they have significant interaction with users via digital channels, while the second proposal represents an interim tax to cover digital activities not currently taxed in the EU, for instance the selling of user-generated data. / read more

The UK Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, announced on 24 March 2018 that the Information Commissioner’s Office (‘ICO’) has executed an investigation of the London offices of the data analytics company Cambridge Analytica (‘CA’), having obtained a search warrant to access records and data held by CA; Denham has explained that the ICO is investigating the circumstances in which Facebook users’ data may have been illegally acquired and used, as a part of its ongoing investigation into the use of personal data and analytics for “political purposes.” An earlier statement on 19 March confirmed that the ICO is looking into the acquisition and use of Facebook data by Cambridge University researcher Dr Aleksandr Kogan, CA and CA’s parent company SCL Group, the individual and organisations at the centre of allegations made by ex-CA whistleblower Christopher Wylie to a series of media outlets including The Guardian newspaper in March 2018. (article written on 26/03/2018) / read more

As organisations scramble to prepare for the General Data Protection Regulation (‘GDPR’), Liz Fitzsimons, Partner at Eversheds Sutherland, examines the issues of most concern to stakeholders at this point, and how they could be alleviated or aggravated after the GDPR begins to apply on 25 May 2018. / read more

The UK Law Commission announced on 6 February 2018 that it is to carry out an independent review, upon request of the UK Government as part of its Digital Charter, into the laws around offensive communications in order to assess whether they provide appropriate protection to victims online, and potentially embark on further work on options for reform if deficiencies are identified. The Law Commission states that any potential reforms will be informed by developing policy in the Digital Charter, which was launched on 25 January 2018 and lists making the UK ‘the safest place to be online’ as one of its priority objectives. “There are already a range of legislative tools available to prosecutors, under which it is possible to bring charges against culpable offenders,” comments Gregor Pryor, Partner at Reed Smith. “In fact, we saw a ten-fold increase in prosecutions under Part 1 of the Malicious Communications Act between 2004 and 2014, which largely reflects an increased uptake in social media over that period.” / read more

At the close of 2017, the Italian Parliament passed the Italian Budget Law 2018 (the ‘Budget Law’), which contains provisions regarding a new so-called ‘Web Tax’ for B2B digital transactions, in an effort to tackle the lack of localised taxation for transactions carried out by major multinational digital businesses. Giuliano Necchi, Partner at Necchi Sorci & Associati, and Daniela De Pasquale, Partner at D&P Studio Legale, provide insight into Italy’s new Web Tax and how it may impact the continuing debate at EU level over the taxation of digital services. / read more

On 23 January 2018 the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee took evidence from Elizabeth Denham, the UK’s Information Commissioner, on the use of algorithms in decision making. This inquiry’s published purpose is to examine the increasing use of algorithms in public and business decision making, to assess how algorithms are formulated, the scope for error or correction and the impact they may have on individuals - and their ability to understand or challenge decisions. Vanessa Barnett, Consultant Solicitor at Keystone Law, provides an account of Elizabeth Denham’s contribution to the inquiry. / read more

The European Commission (‘EC’) published on 19 January 2018 the results of its third evaluation of the Code of Conduct on countering illegal online hate speech by NGOs and public bodies; the EC stated that the Code of Conduct has “delivered steady progress in the removal of notified illegal content.” The progress made under the Code of Conduct, a voluntary initiative undertaken by multinational IT companies Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Microsoft, was evaluated on 9 January 2018 and shows that the signatories to the Code of Conduct removed on average 70% of illegal hate speech notified to them by the NGOs and public bodies participating, which is an increase from the 28% that was found to have been removed after the first evaluation in 2016. / read more

Russia’s new law aimed at further regulating instant messaging services will come into force on 1 January 2018. Sergey Medvedev and Ilya Goryachev of Gorodissky & Partners discuss the new legal obligations that the providers of instant messaging services in Russia will need to comply with. / read more