EDPB and EDPS Adopt a Joint Opinion on a Proposal for Regulation on Online Child Sexual Abuse Prevention

Even when facing important matters such as the prevention of sexual abuse of children, the adverse impact on individuals’ rights to private life and data protection must be limited and proportionate. This was one of the key principles expressed in the joint opinion by the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) and European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), regarding a new proposed ...

Australia: Google is not Liable for Defamation in Google Search Results

The High Court of Australia found Google not liable for allegedly defamatory content in an article linked in a Google search result. The court’s majority opinion held that Google only serves as a “library” for the article and has no active role in this context.

The case came about from a lawsuit filed by a criminal defense attorney, whom the ...

Sephora to Pay $2.1 million in the First Publicly Disclosed CCPA Enforcement Action

American cosmetic retailer Sephora agreed to pay a $2.1 million fine to settle claims that it had violated the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). This is the first CCPA enforcement action made public. California’s Attorney General found that Sephora failed to disclose to consumers that it was selling their personal information, within the meaning of ‘sale’ under the CCPA. The ...

EU Court Takes a Broad View of the Term “Special Categories of Data”

The European Union’s high court has ruled that data capable of revealing a person’s sexual orientation (either by cross-referencing or inference) falls within the GDPR’s special categories of personal data (i.e., sensitive data), even if the data does not directly express the person’s sexual orientation.

The decision was delivered in a case questioning the lawfulness of a Lithuanian requirement from ...

An AI System Cannot be a Patent Inventor Under U.S. law

The U.S. Court of Appeals of the Federal Court has held that Artificial Intelligence (AI) cannot be named the inventor of a patent, because the term “individual” in the U.S. Patent Act necessarily refers to human beings. The decision was delivered in an appeal filed by Dr. Stephen Thaler, whose application for patent protection for the products of his AI ...

UK: Court Permits Service of Process by NFT

In an unprecedented decision, a High Court in England permitted the service of process of pleadings through a non-fungible token (NFT), to the digital wallets of the unnamed defendants.

The permission was granted as part of an application for interim relief filed by a British citizen allegedly conned by an American online trading website. The plaintiff transferred $2.1 million worth ...

Israeli Privacy Protection Authority Publishes Guidelines on Data Protection in Tele-Health Services

The Israeli Privacy Protection Authority (PPA) published the final version of its guidelines on data protection and privacy obligations in tele-health services, following its March draft. The guidelines are directed to healthcare organizations, clinics, health practitioners, and relevant service providers involved in data processing operations throughout the tele-health value chain.

The guidelines map out the steps that healthcare providers and ...

Israeli Gov’t Probe Found Police’s Use of Spyware Uncompliant with Law and Policies

The special investigation team assigned to investigate the Israel Police’s use of spyware, found the Police’s practices to be highly under-supervised and incompliant with the law and internal procedures and policies.

The investigation into the Police’s spyware-tapping activities was launched amid investigative journalism publications by the Israeli newspaper Calcalist, alleging that the Police had warrantlessly penetrated the smartphones of individuals ...