Privacy Shield

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It has been almost two years since the Privacy Shield was struck down as a valid data transfer mechanism in Schrems II. Many have been wondering “what’s next”? Will there be a replacement framework? When will that be released? Will the replacement be invalidated? Well, the European Commission and US recently announced an “agreement in principle” to replace the EU-US Shield Privacy Shield. The EDPB also recently released a statement welcoming the announcement, but reminding companies that the announcement is not actually a legal framework. Thus, nothing has changed… yet.
Continue Reading Waiting on a new EU-US Privacy Shield

The FTC recently settled with Flo Health, Inc., a popular fertility-tracking app, based on promises made about how health data would be shared.  In its complaint, the FTC alleged that while Flo promised to keep users’ health data private and only use it to provide the app’s services to users, in fact, health information of over 100 million users was being shared with popular third party companies. Namely, third parties who provided marketing and analytics services to the app.
Continue Reading FTC Settles with Fertility Tracking App For Alleged Deceptive Data Sharing Practices

As 2020 comes to a close, we take this opportunity to look back at some of the more significant developments that we discussed in the blog this year. The first is the EU Court of Justice’s Schrems II decision, finding that the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield was not a valid mechanism for transferring personal data from the EU to the U.S. Related decisions came out of Switzerland and Israel.
Continue Reading 2020 In Review: Dealing With Schrems II Fallout

One of the methods US and EU companies rely on most frequently for the transfer of personal data from the EU to the US are standard contractual clauses. For the method to be acceptable as a valid basis for transfer of personal information, one critical step is for companies to use the version of the clauses as approved by the EU Commission. This has causes some confusion and concern, as the clauses predate GDPR and thus do not include provisions related to that 2018 law. Another area of confusion has been the recent criticism of the clauses as a valid method -alone- for transferring personal data to certain jurisdictions, including the US. (See proposed supplemental protection measures proposed by the European Data Protection Board to address this latter issue, which we discussed recently.)
Continue Reading EU Seeking Comment on Revisions to Standard Contractual Clauses

The EDPB recently published recommendations on additional security steps to take when transferring personal data out of the EU. As outlined in our previous series of posts, the EU found this summer that the EU-US Privacy Shield was an invalid mechanism for transferring personal information from the EU to the US.
Continue Reading EDPB Sheds Post-Schrems II Light on Supplementary Measures for Data Transfers

Israel’s Privacy Protection Authority recently announced that Privacy Shield can no longer be relied on for data transfers between Israel and the United States. Israel did not have a direct Privacy Shield arrangement with the U.S., instead permitting the many Israeli companies that exchange data with their American counterparts to rely on a provision of its Privacy Protection Regulations that allows for transfers of data to any country that receives data from the EU under the same terms of such transfer.
Continue Reading Israel Follows Europe’s Lead on Privacy Shield

Companies who transfer data from the EU to the U.S. are struggling to determine the appropriate basis under which they can make these transfers. Continuing our examination of the outcome of this decision, we think now about what companies can do for transfers of information from the EU to the U.S.
Continue Reading EU Reaction to the Fall of Privacy Shield: The Rise of SCCs?

U.S. companies are in a bind in the wake of the recent EU decision rejecting the validity of the Privacy Shield. While it is clear that the EU will not accept Privacy Shield participation as a basis for transferring data from the EU to the U.S., next steps for participants are unfortunately not clear cut. U.S. companies who participate in the Shield program face two decisions: (1) whether to continue participation in the Privacy Shield program and (2) what mechanism to rely on for data transfers from the EU to the U.S.
Continue Reading How to Rise from the Privacy Shield Ashes: A View from the U.S.

The FTC recently finalized settlements with five companies over allegations that they falsely claimed certification under the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield framework. In each complaint, the FTC alleged that DCR Workforce, Inc., Thru, Inc., LotaData, Inc., and 214 Technologies, Inc. made false and misleading representations when they stated that they participated under the Privacy Shield framework on their website when they were not participants under the framework. Additionally, in the complaint against EmpiriStat, Inc., the FTC alleged that EmpiriStat, Inc. made a false and misleading representations when it stated that it was a current participant under the Privacy Shield framework on its website after it had allowed its certification to lapse and had been warned by the U.S. Department of Commerce to take down its claim of participation.
Continue Reading FTC Finalizes Five Settlements Regarding Privacy Shield Claims

Many organizations are currently focused on updating their privacy policy to include content required by CCPA. While making those edits, now is a good time to take a step back and think more broadly about privacy program and operations generally, and in particular about the non-CCPA parts of your privacy policy.
Continue Reading Is Your Privacy Policy Ready for 2020?

Over the course of 2018, the FTC brought several actions against US companies for violations of the Privacy Shield program. The program, which as we have reported on previously gives participating US companies a mechanism to receive personal information from EU entities. The program is reviewed annually by the EU to determine if, from an EU perspective, it continues to provide “adequate levels of privacy protection.” In December the EU concluded in its report (and accompanying working document) that the program continues to provide sufficient protection levels. The EU commission noted in reaching its conclusion that the Department of Commerce has increased its scrutiny of privacy policies (looking to see if companies are posting correct complaint forms), and pursuing companies who were mentioning their adherence to the program before the certification had been finalized by the Department of Commerce.
Continue Reading A Look Back at 2018 Privacy Shield Enforcement