2 8 August 2005

News:

The EU Commission has circulated a revised draft of the controversial Data Retention Directive among officials in a further attempt to obtain support for a measure which has met resistance from both industry and the European Parliament.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has announced a crackdown against solicitors and accounting firms who consistently fail to fulfil their obligations under the Data Protection Act.

The US Congress’s attempt to regulate the trade in personal data and introduce data security legislation is being hampered by the wide variety of Bills and Congressional Committes which are focussing on the subject, according to Washington lobbyists.

Features:

On 7 August, the New York Times ran a piece comparing the approaches to privacy and data protection in the USA and Europe. It started by saying that 2005 might be recorded in the databanks of history as the year of the consumer privacy breach. Although we can probably think of other events for which this year will be remembered (and we are barely half way through it), it is quite remarkable that such a journalistic institution makes that type of statement. The article goes on to analyse the legal regimes dealing with data privacy breaches at both sides of the Atlantic.

Eduardo Ustaran of Field Fisher Waterhouse, London, looks at the reasons behind the latest trend in privacy notices and how regulators are assisting organisations to comply with the information provision obligation.

With the publication of the first decision notices made under Freedom of Information legislation in both England and Scotland, it is apparent that public authorities are struggling to comply with the legislation. Tamzin Matthew, associate with national law firm Morgan Cole, analyses some of the cases.

With customer opt-out rates on the increase, organisations face threats to sales targets and to the value of their customer information. Lucy Inger of the Privacy Practice offers potential solutions to these problems.

In the second of his two-part article, Stephen Mason looks at the issues affecting councillors and the automatic forwarding of email correspondence.

In response to a number of video surveillance cases, the Italian Data Protection Commission has released a Code regulating the use of this technology. Michael Poole, a lawyer at Abbatescianni Studio Legale e Tributario in Milan, analyses the Code and its implications for organisations

With outsourcing now widespread, companies are heavily reliant on their service providers to ensure they keep on the right side of the law. Lawrence Milner, solicitor at Penningtons Solicitors LLP, considers whether their faith is misplaced.