Recent decisions from the European Union (EU) have placed renewed focus on the use of common cookies used on ecommerce and other websites used by consumers and employees and transfers of personal data collected through cookies to the United States. The EU Data Protection Authorities (DPAs) found that the use of widely used website technologies (i.e., cookies and java script) to automatically collect identifiers from the users’ devices or through their use of internet protocols (e.g., IP addresses) resulted in the collection of personal data. The DPAs further found that the subsequent transfer of this data to Google servers located in the United States violated EU cross-border data transfer requirements because there were inadequate safeguards under the Schrems II decision invalidating the EU-US Privacy Shield. One notable impact of the decisions is to dismiss the adequacy of encryption technologies where the service provider (such as Google) has access to the cryptographic key and can be compelled to surrender it in order for the data to be decrypted and read by U.S. surveillance authorities. Consideration of the impact of these decisions is critically important for ecommerce and other websites operating in the EU, as well as more generally for organizations that transfer personal data of consumers and employees to the U.S.
Blog Editors
Recent Updates
- “They Said What?! I’ll Sue!” – Litigating Defamatory Claims – Speaking of Litigation Video Podcast
- Two Plaintiffs Win Border Battles as Court Emphasizes When It Has Jurisdiction in Cases with Substantial Factual Issues - SCOTUS Today
- Public Officials Subject to Suits for Blocking Social Media Critics, “Safety Valve” Relief from Mandatory Minimums Is Limited - SCOTUS Today
- Main Justice Launches a 90-Day “Policy Sprint” to Launch a Whistleblower Rewards Program
- What to Do When Your Case Gets Referred to Mediation