Eagle Alpha's Legal Wrap: 7th January

Eagle Alpha rounds up some of the most relevant legal and compliance articles surrounding the alternative data space over the past week.

Ear to the Ground:

With Apple announcing the implementation of new privacy rules in early 2021 threatening the mobile industry, some app makers have openly said that they plan to use device fingerprinting to combat the restrictions - even though this brings the risk of app store bans. Apple’s changes are welcomed by privacy campaigners but warn that eliminating tracking entirely is not possible. You can view the article here.

On 4 January, Jack Dorsey, CEO of Square, criticised the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s (FinCEN) proposed regulations on collecting data on crypto wallet users. In December 2020, FinCEN presented the regulations that could require users to agree with know-your-customer requirements if they want to send cryptocurrency from an exchange to a private wallet. You can view the article here.

The US Department of Treasury, the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation together have proposed a new rule requiring banks to inform their regulators within 36 hours of a breach. This new regulation would also affect companies that offer services to banks, like data processing. You can view the article here.

Following Ant Group’s IPO suspension, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SMAR) launched a probe to investigate Alibaba’s “suspected monopolistic acts”, including “forcing merchants to choose one platform between two competitors”. Now authorities are “seeking to overturn that business model” and considering requiring the group to “feed its data into a nationwide credit reporting system. You can view the article here.

An English teenager has taken legal action against TikTok overuse of her personal data on the mobile app. The claimant and her representative allege that “the defendants have misused the claimant’s private information and processed the claimant’s personal data in breach of duties imposed by GDPR.” You can view the article here.

A Vienna court has ruled that Facebook can use data without the explicit consent of users following a claim made by Max Schrems, an Austrian data activist, earlier in 2020. The ruling outlined that Facebook can invoke Article 6 of GDPR which allows them to process user data based on the contract between user and platform and since it is part of Fakebook’s business model, the data can be used for advertising. You can view the article here.