In light of the declaration of a national state of disaster as a result of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, it is now likely that schools and further learning institutions in South Africa will remain closed for the foreseeable future (even after the national lockdown period) and online teaching will be inevitable. However, privacy, data protection and security are critical when teachers and learners are working remotely due to the higher risk of personal data breaches ...
The Crypto Assets Regulatory Working Group (“CAR WG”) of the Intergovernmental Fintech Working Group (“IFWG”) has released its long-anticipated position paper on crypto assets. The position paper proposes that a clear regulatory policy for crypto assets be adopted in South Africa. However, it is still recommend that crypto assets not be regarded as legal tender or public money ...
In an earlier post, we started discussing the IRS’ “John Doe” summons to Coinbase, a virtual currency exchange, to obtain information about every Coinbase user, who, at any time during the period of January 1, 2013 through December 31, 2015, conducted transactions in a convertible virtual currency as defined in IRS Notice 2014-21. One such user filed a motion to intervene in the proceeding and to quash the IRS’ summons ...
Florida legislature passes bill to add virtual currencies to money laundering statute in response to last year’s court ruling that bitcoin can’t be the basis for money laundering charges Last year, a Miami judge dismissed criminal charges against a Florida-based bitcoin seller who had been caught in a sting in which undercover law enforcement officers engaged him to convert cash into bitcoin. They told him they intended to use the bitcoin to buy stolen credit card numbers ...
If you spend any time reading about the virtual currency space, you’ve picked up that blockchain technology is creeping into hundreds of industries and countries worldwide as more and more people create ways to use the public electronic ledger to better our lives in the not-too-distant future. Money transfers, trade settlements, property and health records, and just about any other part of the human endeavor are being tweaked, changed, and disrupted by this new technology ...
In recognition of the ability to detect the Coronavirus (COVID-19) in sewage and the critical role of basic hygiene in combatting COVID-19, the Minister of the Department of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation has published directions in terms of the Disaster Management Act, 2002. The Directions implement the emergency procurement of water supply and sanitation services to identified areas to combat the spread of COVID-19 ...
The Michigan Economic Development Corporation has announced the Tech Startup Stabilization Fund—a $3 million fund that will provide capital and support for Michigan tech startups impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. ID Ventures is administering the fund and accepting applications from tech startups across the state at TSSFund.com ...
We recently discussed how the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”) allocates $100 billion to the Public Health and Social Service Emergency Fund, to be distributed as relief funds to hospitals and other healthcare providers on the front lines of the coronavirus response (“Provider Relief Fund”) ...
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”), a historic $2 trillion relief package signed into law on March 27, 2020, seeks to address the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on several industries ...
The COVID-19 crisis has triggered an unprecedented response of federal and state relief programs to provide health care resources and economic relief. Once the country moves past the immediate crisis, the government will take a hard look at emergency payments. Along with $2 trillion in relief, the CARES Act established a new law enforcement authority within the Treasury Department: the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery (the SIGPR) ...
A new ordinance n°2020-427 of 15 April 2020 on various provisions regarding deadlines for dealing with the covid-19 epidemic (the “Deadlines Ordinance of 15 April 2020”), presented to the Council of Ministers on 15 April, was published in the Official Journal on 16 April 2020, as it was eagerly awaited by real estate and construction professionals, as well as by the renewable energy sector ...
A recent government notice amended the regulations published in terms of the Disaster Management Act, 2002 to provide for the mandatory establishment of the COVID‑19 Tracing Database by the National Department of Health. This database will trace people who are known or reasonably suspected to have come into contact with any person known or reasonably suspected to have contracted COVID-19 ...
As soon as we began to shelter-in-place during the COVID-19 crisis, most of us also started to hold virtual meetings, both professional and personal, as a better, more satisfying way to connect. For this, we turned en masse to a handful of video conferencing platforms. However, while we can all agree that these services help us do our jobs and stay in touch with loved ones, these services raise many novel privacy and security concerns ...
This is a summary in which we have briefly described the main regulations issued so far in Argentina during the COVID-19 health emergency that affect or are related to fintech and digital banking activities ...
This is not a coronavirus update, but as you can expect, the number of Prop. 65 filings has not decreased significantly during the pandemic. Between March 2nd and April 14th, there were four hundred sixty-nine (469) 60-Day Notices of Violation filed, compared to five hundred ten (510) 60-Day Notices filed between January 1st and March 1st. As you may know, California’s courts are not likely to re-open until around June 1st ...
"The Package” The day begins like any other. Your client opens for business at 9:00 a.m. All employees are at their desks as customers begin calling, emailing, and walking in with various questions and needs. Except this time, when the employees attempt to access customer records from your client’s computer network, they immediately notice something is wrong. None of the customer files will open. The data is a garbled mess ...
On April 10, 2020, the U.S. EPA published an interim memorandum titled “Interim Guidance on Site Field Work Decisions Due to Impacts of COVID-19,” available here, intended as guidance to EPA's regional field offices amid growing concerns regarding the impact of COVID-19 on-site cleanup activities. Specifically, the memorandum provides guidance regarding decisions to continue, reduce, or halt on site cleanup activities amid the challenges posed by the COVID-19 outbreak ...
Amidst growing concerns regarding the spread of the novel coronavirus and COVID-19, disinfectants and cleaners falsely claiming to prevent infection from the virus have started to infiltrate U.S. markets. In light of the widespread shortage of hand sanitizers, latex gloves, and face masks brought about by panic-buying in response to the outbreak, many Americans have fallen prey to these dupes. So much so that, according to a recent New York Times article, U.S ...
Spread of coronavirus infection made companies to change their daily practices in order to ensure continuous business operation without compromising individuals’ safety. In this newsletter, we elaborate on the most sensitive legal issues in terms of data protection, privacy and cybersecurity ...
