CNIL

On June 2, 2020, the French Supervisory Authority (“CNIL”) published a paper on algorithmic discrimination prepared by the French independent administrative authority known as “Défenseur des droits”.  The paper is divided into two parts: the first part discusses how algorithms can lead to discriminatory outcomes, and the second part includes recommendations on how to identify and minimize algorithmic biases.  This paper follows from a 2017 paper published by the CNIL on “Ethical Issues of Algorithms and Artificial Intelligence”.
Continue Reading French CNIL Publishes Paper on Algorithmic Discrimination

On April 21, 2020, the French Supervisory Authority (“CNIL”) launched a public consultation on the rights of minors in the digital services. The consultation is open until June 1, 2020.  The CNIL will use the contributions it receives to prepare recommendations in this area.

Under the French Data Protection Law,…
Continue Reading French Supervisory Authority Launches Public Consultation on the Digital Rights of Minors

On March 6, 2020, the French Supervisory Authority (“CNIL”) released a statement on processing personal data in light of COVID-19.

The CNIL notes that while everyone should take measures to prevent the spread of the virus, such efforts must comply with applicable data protection rules, in particular when collecting and…
Continue Reading French Supervisory Authority issues COVID-19 Guidance

On January 14, 2020, the French Supervisory Authority (“CNIL”) published a new draft guidance on the use of cookies and similar technologies on websites and applications (see here, in French).  The draft guidance is open for public consultation until February 25, 2020.

In its nine articles, the guidance sets out how to properly inform users and collect their consent in this context.  For each requirement, the guidance provides examples and best practices.Continue Reading French Supervisory Authority Publishes Second Guidance on Cookies and Similar Technologies

On November 15, 2019, the French Supervisory Authority (“CNIL”) published guidance on the use of facial recognition. The guidance is primarily directed at public authorities in France that want to experiment with facial recognition.

The guidance warns that this technology risks leading to biased results because the algorithms used are…
Continue Reading French Supervisory Authority Publishes Guidance on Facial Recognition

On September 24, 2019, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) adopted a decision on the geographical scope of the right to erasure under the GDPR (decision available here).  The court decided, in line with the opinion of Advocate General Szpunar, that a US-based search engine does not have to remove (de-reference) search results displayed on all the search engine’s versions.  According to the court, it suffices for search results to be deleted from the search engine’s EU versions (i.e., EU domain name extensions, such as .eu, .fr or .de).  For more information on the Advocate General’s opinion, see our prior blog post here.
Continue Reading GDPR’s right to be forgotten limited to EU websites

On June 28, 2019, the French Supervisory Authority (CNIL) announced that it will issue new guidelines on the use of cookies for direct marketing purposes.  It will issue these guidelines in two phases.

First, during July 2019, the CNIL will update its guidance issued in 2013 on cookies.  According to…
Continue Reading French Supervisory Authority will issue new guidelines on cookies

On January 21, 2019, the French Supervisory Authority for data protection (“CNIL”) issued a fine of €50 million against Google for violations of the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) (the decision was published in French here).  The CNIL’s decision was triggered by complaints from two non-profit organizations together representing…
Continue Reading Google fined €50 million in France for GDPR violation

On January 10, 2019, Advocate General Szpunar of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) released his opinion regarding a 2016 enforcement action carried out by the French Supervisory Authority (CNIL) against Google.  In that case, the CNIL ordered Google to de-reference links to webpages containing personal data. …
Continue Reading EU Advocate General: right to be forgotten is limited to EU

On November 9, 2018, the French Supervisory Authority for Data Protection (known as the “CNIL”) announced that it issued a formal warning (available here) ordering the company Vectaury to change its consent experience for customers and purge all data collected on the basis of invalid consent previously obtained.

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Continue Reading CNIL imposes GDPR-consent in online advertising space