Eagle Alpha rounds up some of the most relevant legal and compliance articles surrounding the alternative data space over the past month.
US
The Biden administration has appointed Lena Khan as the FTC's new chairperson. As one of her first initiatives, she will be investigating how consumer data collection is driving Big Tech’s success and how these companies use data to monopolize the market. She is expected to take over the rulemaking initiative started by Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, who was the acting FTC chair before Khan was appointed. You can view the article here.
In 2020, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand introduced a Data Protection Act that would aim to help control the amount of data collected by big tech companies. The updated version that was just announced aims to create a new government agency in charge of regulating and enforcing federal privacy laws. The new agency would also review privacy implications for mergers, including the transfer of data. It will also have its own Office of Civil Rights to ensure data is not collected or used in any nefarious ways. You can view the article here.
On June 3rd, 2021, a decision was made in the Van Buren versus the United States case clarifying language surrounding “exceeding authorized access to data”. For the fund industry, this is a positive step forward in providing more certainty for web-scraped data. For the LinkedIn vs. hiQ case, the Supreme Court has ordered the case back to the Ninth Circuit court for additional consideration following the Van Buren decision. You can view the article here.
Microsoft and Alphabet have both clashed with the US securities watchdog over disclosing ESG issues in their 10k filings. They have said that disclosing these issues would open them up to legal risks, but asset managers are prompting the SEC to make ESG information mandatory for 10k filings. You can view the article here.
According to new research by CompariTech, one in five apps on the Google Play store is currently in breach of the children's online privacy protection act also known as COPPA. 274 of these apps, making up 50% of the study, had received a teacher-approved tick, while 50 of these totaling 18% were found to be in violation of the COPPA guidelines. You can view the article here.
According to MedCity News, 20,000 health apps were assessed by the BMJ in a recent study, with approximately 88% of the total number having the ability to collect and share its user’s data. Additionally, less than 50% of apps shared data that was consistent with their privacy policy and around 28% of the apps did not provide a privacy policy at all. You can view this article here.
On June the 9th, Joe Biden signed an executive order revoking the previous administrations’ restriction black-listing certain Chinese apps including TikTok, WeChat and eight other Chinese communication and financial apps. This new executive order aims to implement a new approach to addressing the flow of data between the US and China but also to address the concern around potential future restrictions. You can view the article here.
Europe
On the 28th of June, the European Commission signed off on data adequacy for the UK following Brexit. This decision has confirmed that although considered a third country now, the UK will be treated as having the same data protection laws as the EU and allowing the free flow of data to continue from the EU to the UK without any new legal barriers. You can view the article here.
On the 22nd of June, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) published its final recommendations surrounding the transfer of personal data to third-party countries following the Schrems II ruling last summer. This ruling clarifies that some data will be deemed illegal for transfer to third countries, while for other data to be transferred, data controllers must assess the viability of each transfer on a case-by-case basis. You can view the press release here.
In the EU, a report titled ‘Global Trends in Technology and Data’ published by William Fry has found that data regulation has become the number one factor investors consider when deciding where to invest. This has replaced tax since the survey was last completed in 2016. You can view the paper here.
China
On the 10th of June 2021, China passed its data security law (DSL). This law impacts every firm operating in or doing business with China and will require guidelines to be followed surrounding the processing of data or be at risk of significant penalties. This new law will come into effect on September 1st, 2021. You can view the article here.