In Ryanair dac v SC Vola.ro srl [2019] IEHC 239 the Irish High Court confirmed the enforceability of a jurisdiction clause contained within a website’s Terms of Use, finding the user had agreed to it via a “click-wrap” agreement. Following previous Ryanair screen-scraping cases, the court held the click-wrap agreement met the requirements of Article 25(1) (c) of the Brussels I Recast Regulation (EU 1215/2012) (the Regulation). The court rejected the defendant’s arguments that there had been no assent to the Terms of Use, and the jurisdiction clause, because there was an element of “auto-ticking” by the Ryanair system as distinct from manual ticking by the user.

Read More

On 1 May 2019, Ms Helen Dixon, the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC), appeared before the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.  She was invited to testify on Ireland’s implementation of the GDPR, as the US is considering introducing a federal data privacy framework. California has already passed a new data privacy law, the California Consumer Privacy Act, which is due to come into effect on 1 January 2020. This note sets out some of the highlights of the DPC’s testimony. Continue Reading DPC testifies before US Senate Committee on GDPR implementation

As we approach the GDPR’s one-year anniversary, we are starting to see more enforcement activity by the EU Data Protection Authorities (DPAs) as they complete their initial investigations into data breaches. This blog looks at two recent fines issued by the Polish and Danish DPAs, which demonstrate the type of conduct likely to lead to enforcement activity.

Continue Reading GDPR enforcement action – Polish & Danish DPAs issue their first fines

The UK Supreme Court has granted supermarket chain Morrisons permission to appeal against a landmark UK Court of Appeal ruling that found it vicariously liable for a deliberate data breach carried out by a former employee (previously discussed here).

Continue Reading UK Supreme Court grants Morrisons permission to appeal class action data breach

The EDPB has released new draft guidelines 2/2019 on the contractual necessity legal basis for processing personal data in the context of the provision of online services to data subjects. The guidelines emphasise the narrow scope of the contractual necessity legal basis. A controller must be able to demonstrate that the processing is ‘objectively necessary’ for a purpose that is ‘integral’ to the delivery of a contractual service to the data subject in order to rely on this legal basis. If a controller cannot demonstrate such necessity it must consider another legal basis for processing the personal data. This note considers the key highlights of the guidelines.

Continue Reading EDPB issues draft guidelines on the contractual necessity legal basis in the context of online services

On 3 April 2019, the Joint Committee on Justice and Equality met to discuss the implementation of the GDPR with Ms Anna Morgan (Deputy Commissioner), Ms Jennifer O’Sullivan (Deputy Commissioner), and Mr Cathal Ryan (Assistant Commissioner). The Commissioners discussed a range of issues, including the enforcement powers used by the Data Protection Commission (DPC) post-GDPR, the difficulties with verifying parental consent in relation to the provision of information society services to children, and the DPC’s experience of resolving data access requests by amicable resolution. This note highlights some of the Committee’s questions (in abbreviated form), and the responses given by the Commissioners.

Continue Reading Deputy Data Protection Commissioners discuss GDPR implementation with Oireachtas Committee

The UK has published an Online Harms White Paper, setting out its proposals for new online safety laws. Like the Irish Government’s proposals (discussed here), the UK proposals aim to make online platforms more responsible for users’ online safety, especially children and other vulnerable groups. The new laws will apply to any company that allows users to share or discover user-generated content or interact with each other online, including social media platforms, file hosting sites, public discussion forums, messaging services, and search engines. The 12-week consultation period on the new laws runs until 1 July 2019.

The UK consultation paper seeks views on a number of issues including:

• the online services falling within the remit of the regulatory framework;
• options for appointing an independent regulator responsible for enforcing the new framework;
• the regulatory body’s enforcement powers;
• potential redress mechanisms for online users; and
• measures to ensure regulation is targeted and proportionate for the industry.

Continue Reading UK proposes new online safety laws