March 2021

Axel Voss, a member of the European Parliament who helped to create the GDPR, has stated that after just three years in force, the regulation is out of date and needs to be heavily revised to stay abreast of the post-pandemic world. He explained that the legislation needs updating to reflect the global shift to home working that has resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as to cater for the multitude of new technologies that have been developed since the GDPR entered into force. Most notably, the use of Artificial Intelligence has grown exponentially over the last several years. It remains to be seen whether any significant revision is likely anytime soon, as other European Parliament members, such as Sophie Veld, claim that the GDPR is still fit for purpose.

I have noticed that when I call on companies for information, I am frequently told that “I can’t give you that, because of Data Protection”. As a specialist trainer of compliance for companies on Data Protection, I am fully aware that I am not asking for data that is of a protected by Data Protection laws. 

The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) noted similar developments, warning that increasingly people are attempting to use data protection laws to resolve non-data protection disputes, stating that it must be protected from becoming the “law of absolutely everything”. 

She noted that the DPC has been receiving increasing numbers of complaints from individuals that are completely unrelated to data protection. Problems at work, with medical treatment, and neighbours’ parking were just a few examples she gave that support her observations. She suggested that this trend “reflects a desire on the part of many individuals to have access to an independent and easily-accessible, no-cost dispute resolution service”, further noting that this was NOT the function of the DPC.

Victoria Anzola

TikTok has agreed to pay $92 million to settle a class action lawsuit. The class action related to allegations of significant privacy violations, with claims that TikTok had collected sensitive personal data and used it to track its users and show targeted ads to them. An allegation was also made that the app had analysed the faces of its users to determine their ethnicity, gender and age. 

Whilst TikTok denies all allegations, it has agreed to settle the case out of court. A spokesperson explained that “Whilst we disagree with the assertions, rather than going through lengthy litigation, we’d like to focus our efforts on building a safe and joyful experience for the TikTok community.”