ISSUE 22 - 27 NOV 2020
Newsletter The latest privacy news, views and announcements Good afternoon, We hope you had a great week and have some time left to catch up on this week's data protection stories. Read on for some of this week's privacy highlights.
Ireland’s data law enforcement criticised as EU becomes ‘laughing stock’ European Commission unveils new strategy to tip data
PRIVACY NEWS IN BRIEF China’s ‘wild era’ of internet may be ending as new personal data protection law seeks to curb Big Tech’s control over user data The draft version of the new law significantly increases penalties for companies responsible for data breaches, proposing fines of up to US$7.6 million. Given the huge size of the Chinese big data market, some believe the penalties under the new law are light and that it has some shortcomings
balance away from US tech giants. Ireland’s enforcement of EU data protection laws has been sharply criticised as the European Commission prepares to unveil a strategy to ease the use of big data for innovation and tip the balance of power away from big tech. The commission is set to propose new rules that would make it easier to use the large volumes of impersonal data generated by the use of technology for productive ends, such as making new discoveries in healthcare by studying populationlevel patterns, improving mobility and tackling climate change. But such new rules would be meaningless without enforcement, the privacy activist Max Schrems warned in a joint event discussing the plan with internal markets commissioner Thierry Breton, at which the Austrian campaigner slammed the record of Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC). “One thing that we see a lot with the GDPR, we put these laws forward, we’re very proud that we’re the masters of fundamental rights and privacy in the world, but the reality is it’s not enforced,” Mr Schrems said at the event hosted by think tank Bruegel. Source: The Irish Times
China’s new data privacy laws could see the beginning of the end of the country’s “wild era” of internet development where platforms have been free to collect and use citizens’ personal information. Legal experts welcomed the draft of the Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL), despite its shortcomings, saying the move is timely and will help push back against big tech’s control over personal data. Wang Zhicheng, associate professor of finance at the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University, said the past two decades have been a “wild era” for China’s internet, with the big tech platforms operating with few rules to regulate their collection and usage of personal data. .
Source: South China Morning Post