With election fever in full swing, you might expect governing to take a back seat to politics. However, on September 28, 2012, President Obama signed Senate Bill 3245 into law. Senate Bill 3245 renews four U.S. Department of Homeland Security-administered programs, including E-Verify and the EB-5 Regional Center program. As such, both programs have been extended by three years from their original termination dates of September 30, 2012 to September 30, 2015 ...
On Aug. 31, 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued its decision in In re Charter Communications Inc., (2d Cir. Aug. 31, 2012), expressly adopting an abuse of discretion standard for reviewing equitable mootness determinations ...
The Federal Attorney-General has released a Discussion Paper seeking comment on whether to introduce laws to make notification of data breaches by government agencies and large private sector entities mandatory in Australia. The Government is calling for submissions by 23 November 2012, asking what the triggers should be and what penalties should apply for failure to comply ...
In an article published in the 09 August 2012 issue of Law Technology News, lawyer and media consultant Robert J. Ambrogi of Massachusetts gave some tips to keep social networking in line with ethics. First, remember that the same rules apply. Blogs, social networks, Twitter, and the like remain relatively new forms of media, but the same old ethical rules apply. Second, do not betray client confidences ...
The constitutional right to privacy was discussed in the decision promulgated on 18 October 2011 by the Philippine Supreme Court (SC) in the case of Briccio “Ricky” A. Pollo v. Chairperson Karina Constantino-David, et al. (G.R. No ...
The use of social media is now a fact of life, but many employers are struggling to keep up with the consequences of rapid technological change.Technology develops fast: it is hard to believe that Twitter has only been with us since 2006. The law moves more slowly and regulating new employee behaviours within the existing legal framework can be a challenge ...
On October 26, 2012, three resolutions were adopted by the closed session of the 34th International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners and have been published on the conference website. Below we provide an overview of these resolutions ...
The Supreme Court of Canada decision in R v Cole, 2012 SCC 53 may have a significant impact on how employers manage the use of digital devices in the workplace. While a constitutional and criminal decision at its core, the case nevertheless recognizes the importance of employees’ reasonable expectation of privacy when using work computers and other digital devices. In Cole, the accused was a high school teacher who was issued a laptop computer by his employer ...
FAQ on the Belgian Pre-Contractual Information in the Framework of Commercial Co-operation Agreements Act of 19 December 2005.Belgium has a specific legal regime protecting the economically weaker party in certain commercial partnership agreements (i.e. the Pre-Contractual Information in the Framework of Commercial Co-operation Agreements Act of 19 December 2005 – “the Act”) ...
On November 7, 2012, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it had settled charges against payday lending and check cashing companies alleged to have improperly disposed of consumers’ personal information. In its complaint, the FTC maintained that PLS Financial Services, Inc ...
Reporting from Washington, D.C., Hunton & Williams partner Frederick Eames writes: Elections have consequences. What are the consequences of the 2012 election on U.S. federal privacy, data security and breach notice legislation? We outline some key developments in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate and explain how these developments might affect legislative priorities and prospects for the 113th Congress beginning in 2013.U.S. House of RepresentativesThree committees in the U ...
On November 20, 2012, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) published “Anonymisation: Managing Data Protection Risk Code of Practice” (the “Code”). The purpose of the Code is to provide organizations with a framework for assessing the risks of anonymization ...
Since the adoption of Bill C-451 amending certain provisions of the Criminal Code in march of 2004,2 employers have had to take on increased responsibility in the area of occupational health and safety. Indeed, the effect of sections 22.1 and 217.1 of the Criminal Code is to facilitate the laying of criminal negligence charges in cases involving the health and safety of workers. Section 217 ...
On November 13-15, 2012, delegates at the IAPP Europe Data Protection Congress in Brussels were given insight into how discussions with key policymakers are progressing. As European Parliament rapporteur and Member of the European Parliament Jan Philipp Albrecht aims to finalize the reform of the EU Data Protection Directive by the end of the current European Parliament’s mandate in 2014, this ambitious goal faces numerous hurdles ...
In late October 2012, California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris began sending letters to approximately 100 mobile app operators, informing them that they are not in compliance with the California Online Privacy Protection Act (“CalOPPA”) ...
The Quebec Court of Appeal rendered an important decision on the legality of termination of employment for some 190 employees of the Wal-Mart store in Jonquière. In the context of several proceedings which were filed to obtain compensation for those job losses, the United Food and Commercial Workers, local 503 (hereinafter the "Union") argued that the store's closure in April 2005 was contrary to section 59 of the Labour Code (hereinafter the "L.C.") ...
On November 22, 2012, the UK Ministry of Justice released a written ministerial statement (“Statement”) announcing the publication of its Government Impact Assessment on the European Commission’s legislative reform package on the EU data protection framework. The European Commission has claimed that a regulation implementing a single set of data protection rules across the European Union would save businesses around €2.3 billion a year ...
On November 28, 2012, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) issued monetary penalties totaling £440,000 to two owners of a marketing company that sent millions of unlawful spam SMS text messages over a period of three years.Following an 18 month investigation, Christopher Niebal and Gary McNeish, the owners of Tetrus Telecoms (“Tetrus”), have been ordered to pay £300,000 and £140,000, respectively ...
The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) recently published a questionnaire to gather feedback on how privacy seals might be used to improve data protection compliance and customer privacy awareness. The questionnaire is available online until November 30, 2012 ...
A Polish company enters into a contract with a German company. Which country’s law will govern the contract? Monika Hartung: To start with, under Art. 3 of the Rome I Regulation (Regulation 593/2008 of 17 June 2008 on the law applicable to contractual obligations), the parties themselves may select the law governing the contract. The previous version of Poland’s Private International Law required the existence of a link, e.g ...
On October 31, 2012, the California Court of Appeal affirmed a finding that two chemicals classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as possibly carcinogenic pursuant to the Labor Code do not meet the standard for inclusion on the Proposition 65 list ...
The America Invents Act of 2011 (AIA) authorizes the U.S. Patent Office to create a new third tier of fees for patent prosecution and maintenance — "Micro Entity Status" — where fees may be reduced by up to 75 percent. Micro entities are eligible to pay fees 50 percent lower than those paid by small entities and 75 percent lower than those paid by large entities ...
On November 30, 2012, the long-awaited amendments to the Mexican federal labor law were published in the Official Gazette of the Federation (Diario Oficial de la Federación). The primary purpose of this set of reforms is to promote job creation and to attempt to regularize labor relationships that arise informally ...
Although like in most EU countries, there is no specific regulation in France on social media, judges have recently answered very clearly to this question: it depends on the privacy settings made by the employee!French judges make a clear distinction between (i) social media postings that remain private (i.e ...
The question raised in the case was whether a previously concluded agreement on salary cuts could be set aside in the event of the employer's bankruptcy to the effect that an employee could receive salary from the Employees' Guarantee Fund as if no agreement on salary cuts had been entered into between the employer and the employee some months before the employer went bankrupt ...
