Policy Observatory
The MAPPING Policy Observatory is a “policy watch” in several European countries in the areas of Privacy, Intellectual Property Rights and Internet Governance. Check out the synthetic overview on the policy news or subscribe to its RSS feed. Or select one of the comparative policy overview tables on Privacy, Intellectual Property, Internet Governance or Startups
Facebook is to be fined £500,000, the maximum amount possible, for its part in the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the information commissioner has announced. The fine is for two breaches of the Data Protection Act. The Information Commissioner’s Office concluded that Facebook failed to safeguard its users’ information and that it failed to be transparent about how that data was harvested by others.
The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg on Thursday ruled that Austrian privacy campaigner Max Schrems cannot lodge a class action suit against Facebook Ireland. Schrems was seeking to stake the collective claim on the behalf of 25,000 people. The judges instead said he can file an individual case. Schrems maintains that Facebook violates the privacy of European-based users.
In January 2018, the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union picked up where the Estonian Presidency left off on the ePrivacy Regulation. It issued two examinations of the last Estonian “compromise” proposal and asked national delegations for guidance on some issues. Together, the documents cover most of the key points of the text. While the Bulgarian Presidency brings clarity on some points, its questions pave the way to undermine the text – and therefore threatens the protection of citizens’ privacy, confidentiality of communications of both citizens and businesses, as well as the positions of innovative EU companies and trust in the online economy.
