Elli Laine

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On May 22, 2019, WSGR and the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) co-hosted an event focusing on advertising technology and how to overcome the challenges of complying with evolving global privacy requirements.

Jules Polonetsky from FPF opened the program, focusing on the evolution of online advertising, from contextual to programmatic behavioral advertising. WSGR attorneys Lydia Parnes, Cédric Burton, Libby Weingarten, and Lore Leitner discussed the legal regime that applies to this technology: new legal requirements, recent case law, and data protection authorities’ decisions affecting the ad tech ecosystem, as well as the differences between EU and U.S. legislation applying to ad tech.Continue Reading WSGR Event Recap: Online Advertising and Privacy—An Overview of Global Legal Developments

On March 21, 2019, the Advocate General (AG) of the highest EU Court (the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU)) issued an opinion (opinion) in the Planet49 case[1] on what constitutes valid consent for cookies under the Data Protection Directive, the GDPR, and the e-Privacy Directive.

In particular, the AG opines that: 1) a pre-ticked checkbox that users must untick to refuse consent does not constitute valid consent; 2) consent for cookies should not be bundled with other consents; and 3) users must be informed about the cookies’ lifespan and the third parties accessing the cookies. AG opinions are not binding on the CJEU, but are often influential. If the CJEU follows the AG Opinion, it will likely impact widely-adopted cookie consent practices in the EU and underlying business models that rely on such consent.
Continue Reading CJEU Advocate General Opinion Calls for Active and Separate Cookie Consents

On January 23, 2019, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) issued an opinion (Opinion) on the interplay between the Clinical Trial Regulation (CTR) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), an issue which has been the subject of intense debate and that resulted in a draft, and still non-public, FAQ prepared by the EU Commission. The Opinion comments on the draft FAQ and provides some insight on data protection regulators’ view on how the GDPR applies to patient data collected as a part of a clinical trial.

In short, the EDPB takes the position that consent under the GDPR, and informed consent under the CTR, are different concepts, and that various legal grounds, including consent, are available under the GDPR to process patient personal data in the clinical trial context. Practically speaking, organizations will have to conduct a case-by-case assessment of the various options available.
Continue Reading EDPB Opinion on Consent and Legal Basis in Clinical Trials