All's fair in love and... advertising? Legal, decent, honest and truthful (and that's just this article!).  So it's not just in love and war where everything should be fair, but advertising too. UK law restricting misleading and comparative advertising is about to change, to bring it in line with EU legislation.  Gone will be the Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations 1988 (as amended) and large chunks of the Trade Descriptions Act 1968 (as amended).  The legislation will now be clearly demarcated between traders and consumers. Read more.

Australian Privacy Commissioner issues draft guidance on information security beach notifications The Office of the Privacy Commissioner in Australia has recently published a consultation paper on its draft voluntary information security breach notification guide. The proposed information security breaches notification follows work also undertaken by Information Commissioners in Canada and New Zealand and builds on the existing notification breach legislation in the United States and the discussions on similar legislation for the European Union. The Australian Privacy Commissioner's Consultation Paper contains useful guidance on both preventing and responding to information security breaches and examples of how to evaluate the risks associated with a breach. For further information please contact Robert Bond.

European Commission issues opinion on search engines and data protection The Article 29 Data Protection Working Party of the European Commission has recently published its opinion on data protection issues relating to search engines.  For search engine providers outside Europe, this opinion has a significant impact because it states that the EU data protection laws apply to foreign search engines because they utilise equipment within the EU and furthermore that server logs and IP addresses are "personal data" as defined by EU law.  The impact of the opinion will be felt by service providers because they will have to give considerably more information to users as to precisely how individuals' personal data is captured by search engines and is then subsequently stored and processed.  A balance will need to be struck between the EU's requirement that data should not be held longer than necessary on the one hand with service providers need to retain data for so long as it may be required to meet service providers obligations to the prevention of fraud and terrorism on the other hand.  Whilst the opinion will need to be further interpreted by each member state, service providers and search engine users will need to monitor data protection issues and revise their website terms of use and privacy policies. For further information please contact Robert Bond.

UK Government publish concerns for children in online environments Over the past few years the UK Home Secretary's taskforce on child protection on the internet has studied the issues affecting the protection of children in online environments. Read more.   Typosquatting Have you ever typed a web address into your browser and been directed to a completely unrelated site to the one you were looking for, for example where you have misspelt the domain name, or typed in .co.uk where you should have used .com? If, instead of accessing your intended website you find yourself at a site containing hyperlinks to a list of categories of other websites, similar, but not containing the site you are looking for, the chances are you have been directed there deliberately. Read more.   Up and coming conferences... ICC Conference - A Global Perspective on Data Protection and Processing The ICC conference entitled, "A Global Perspective on Data Protection and Processing" will take place on 28 May in Paris.  This conference will bring together an international mix of companies, regulators, data protection authorities and legal experts to trade experience on the complex global issues surrounding data protection and processing.  Robert Bond, Head of IP, Technology & Commercial will be chairing the session, "Global Sourcing and International Data Transfers".   For further information about the conference, costs and how to register please click here.    American Bar Association Business Law Section's Global Business Meeting The ABA conference will take place on 29-30 May in Frankfurt and will address the strengths of the Section's in fields such as mergers and acquisitions, securities law, corporate governance, corporate compliance, legal opinion practice, business and corporate litigation, and cyberspace law, among others.  Robert Bond will be taking part in a panel discussion in to the "Impact of Privacy Regulation in the European Union on the Implementation and Operation of Corporate Whistleblowing Hotlines". Early bird fees apply to registrations made before 1st May.   For further information about the conference, costs and how to register please click here.