Big Data

On February 10, 2020, the UK Government’s Committee on Standards in Public Life* (the “Committee”) published its Report on Artificial Intelligence and Public Standards (the “Report”). The Report examines potential opportunities and hurdles in the deployment of AI in the public sector, including how such deployment may implicate the “Seven Principles of Public Life” applicable to holders of public office, also known as the “Nolan Principles” (available here). It also sets out practical recommendations for use of AI in public services, which will be of interest to companies supplying AI technologies to the public sector (including the UK National Health Service (“NHS”)), or offering public services directly to UK citizens on behalf of the UK Government. The Report elaborates on the UK Government’s June 2019 Guide to using AI in the public sector (see our previous blog here).
Continue Reading UK Government’s Advisory Committee Publishes Report on Public Sector Use of AI

In this final instalment of our series of blogs on the European Commission’s plans for AI and data, announced on 19 February 2020, we discuss some potential effects on companies in the digital health sector. As discussed in our previous blog posts (here, here and here), the papers published by the European Commission cover broad concepts and apply generally — but, in places, they specifically mention healthcare and medical devices.

The Commission recognizes the important role that AI and big data analysis can play in improving healthcare, but also notes the specific risks that could arise given the effects that such new technologies may have on individuals’ health, safety, and fundamental rights. The Commission also notes that existing EU legislation already affords a high level of protection for individuals, including through medical devices laws and data protection laws. The Commission’s proposals therefore focus on addressing the gap between these existing rules and the residual risks that remain in respect of new technologies. Note that the Commission’s proposals in the White Paper on AI are open for public consultation until 19 May 2020.Continue Reading European Commission’s Plans for AI and Data: Focus on Digital Health (Part 4 of 4)

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”) now has released the preliminary draft of the “NIST Privacy Framework: A Tool for Improving Privacy through Enterprise Risk Management.”  NIST is seeking comments on the preliminary draft of the Privacy Framework and plans to use these comments to develop version 1.0 of the Privacy Framework.  Comments are due by 5:00 p.m. ET on October 24, 2019.
Continue Reading NIST Releases Preliminary Draft of Privacy Framework

The Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”) announced in early September intention to create a Privacy Framework.  This Privacy Framework would provide voluntary guidelines that assist organizations in managing privacy risks.  The NIST announcement recognized that the Privacy Framework is timely because disruptive technologies, such as artificial intelligence and the internet of things, not only enhance convenience, growth, and productivity, but also require more complex networking environments and massive amounts of data.
Continue Reading NIST Begins Developing a Voluntary Online Privacy Framework

The EU’s Article 29 Working Party (“WP29”) has issued new guidance on data processing in the employment context.  Adopted on June 8, 2017, the guidance primarily takes account of the existing data protection framework under the EU Data Protection Directive (Directive 95/46/EC), but also considers the developments coming into force on May 25, 2018 under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) (“GDPR”).

The WP29 released the guidance partly as a result of the GDPR, but also due to the number of new technologies that have been adopted since previous WP29 publications relating to personal data in the workplace (see Opinion 8/2001 on the processing of personal data in the employment context and the 2002 Working Document on the surveillance of electronic communications in the workplace).  As the WP29 observes, these new technologies enable extensive systematic processing of employees’ personal data and present significant challenges to privacy and data protection.

The new guidance is not restricted to the protection of persons with an employment contract, but is more expansive in scope and intended to cover a range of individuals in an employment relationship with an organization, such as applicants and part-time workers (the term “employee” applies broadly in all such contexts).  The guidance discusses a number of distinct employment scenarios: processing operations during the recruitment and employee screening stage; processing for monitoring ICT usage in and out of the workplace; time, attendance and video monitoring; processing relating to employees’ use of vehicles; as well as the disclosure of employee data to third parties and international transfers of personal data.
Continue Reading EU Article 29 Working Party Releases Extensive GDPR Guidance on Data Processing at Work

In a new post on the Covington Digital Health blog, our colleagues discuss a new European Cloud in Health Advisory Council whitepaper calling for a review of European healthcare data protection rules holding back greater adoption of cloud computing and AI; and for more discussion about the ethics and governance of re-use of patient…

By Tim Stratford and Yan Luo

China’s National Information Security Standardization Technical Committee (“NISSTC”), a standard-setting committee jointly supervised by the Standardization Administration of China (“SAC”) and the Cyberspace Administration of China (“CAC”), released seven draft national standards related to cybersecurity and data privacy for public comment on December 21, 2016.  The public comment period runs until February 2, 2017.

These new draft standards are:

  • Information Security Technology – Personal Information Security Specification
  • Information Security Technology – Implementation Guide for Cybersecurity Classified Protection
  • Information Security Technology – Security Capability Requirements for Big Data Services
  • Information Security Technology – Guide for Security Risk Assessment of Industrial Control Systems
  • Information Security Technology —Security Technique Requirements and Test Evaluation Approaches for Industrial Control Network Monitoring
  • Information Security Technology — Technique Requirements and Testing and Evaluation Approaches For Industrial Control System Vulnerability Detection
  • Information Security Technology – Testing and Evaluation Methods for the Security of Hardcopy Devices

Continue Reading China Seeks Comment on Seven Draft Cybersecurity and Data Privacy National Standards

Last week, the European Data Protection Supervisor (the “EDPS”), in collaboration with European consumer organisation BEUC, hosted a joint conference on Big Data: individual rights and smart enforcement in Brussels (for the conference agenda, see here).  The conference brought together leading regulators and experts in the areas of competition, data protection and consumer…

As announced last week, the European Data Protection Supervisor (“EDPS”) released on September 23, 2016 an opinion on “coherent enforcement of fundamental rights in the age of big data.”  This opinion follows an earlier Preliminary Opinion on privacy and competitiveness in the age of big data, published in 2004 (see our previous blog post here).

According to the EDPS, data-driven technologies and services are important for economic growth, but the users of those services are generally unaware of the nature and extent of the “covert tracking”  that fuels the sector.  The growing imbalance between consumers and service providers would diminish choice and innovation and threaten the privacy of individuals.  In fact, the rights of individuals enshrined in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights would be threatened by “normative behavior and standards that now prevail in cyberspace.”    At the same time, EU rules on data protection, consumer protection, and antitrust and merger control are applied in silos, despite their common objectives.
Continue Reading EDPS Issues Opinion on Big Data and Enforcement

By Kristof Van Quathem

Yesterday, the European Commission launched its “Digitising European Industry” package, a series of industry related initiatives aimed at “updating Europe’s digital infrastructure”, see press release here, Q&A here and homepage here.  The package includes reports and proposals addressing cloud computing, ICT standardization, eGovernment, Internet of Things (“IoT”), quantum technologies and high performance computing / big data.

Below we summarize the data protection aspects of the key communications published yesterday.
Continue Reading Digital Single Market – New Initiatives for Cloud Computing and Internet of Things