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European Court Finds Bulgarian Gov’t Electronic Surveillance Violates Human Rights

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that Bulgaria’s Special Surveillance Means Act, which authorizes the government to surveil citizens in certain circumstances, violates the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The decision was delivered on a petition filed by Bulgarian citizens and European human rights groups.

Bulgaria’s surveillance act, along with several ...

New Legislative Bill Amending the Israeli Privacy Protection Law

The Israeli government has formally published the legislative bill proposing numerous amendments to the Israeli Protection of Privacy Law. If enacted, this would be the most comprehensive amendment to the law since 1996. The bill seeks to amend the definitions of the law’s key terms, thereby expanding the scope of the Law, and to downscale the antiquated obligation to register ...

EU Data Protection Agencies Find that Google Analytics’ Data Transfers to the US Violate the GDPR

Two separate enforcement proceedings, by the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) and the Austrian Data Protection Authority (DPA), have found that the use of Google Analytics for the processing of data of EU data subjects violates the GDPR because it leads to the unlawful transfer of data to the United States.

The EDPS’s investigation into Google Analytics was prompted ...

Israeli Privacy Regulator Eases Restrictions on Cross-Border Data Transfers

The Israeli Privacy Protection Authority (the “PPA”) published a draft position paper regarding international transfers of personal information, in which it recognizes the significant practical difficulties that regulations on international data transfers raise. This publication deals with the interpretation of Regulation 3 of the Privacy Protection Regulations (Transfer of Information to Databases Outside the State's Boards), 5761-2001 (the “Regulations”).

Under ...

Israeli Civil Service Regulations Forbid Wiretapping of Civil Servants

The Israeli Civil Service Regulations, which apply to civil servants employed by the Israeli government, were amended to prohibit the recording of one civil servant by another absent full consent, regardless of whether one party is subordinate to the other. This prohibition does not apply if the recording party has reasonable grounds to believe that the recording is necessary for ...

French Regulator Fines Google and Facebook for Cookie-Related Violations

The French data protection authority, CNIL, imposed a 60 million Euro fine on Facebook and a 150 million Euro fine on Google, for violations of provisions of the French Data Protection Act relating to cookies. This is the second fine for Google by CNIL, following a fine in December 2020 also on the issue of compliance with cookie regulations.

CNIL ...

Russia: Google fined $100 Million for “Failing to Remove Banned Content”

Russian Courts have fined Google $100 million and Meta approximately $27 million for “systemic failure to remove banned content”. Tech giants are regularly fined in Russia for failing to remove content that the Russian Government bans, particularly content related to the Russian opposition and its leaders, but those penalties have rarely exceeded $1 million.

The unprecedented fines represent an escalation ...

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