china data privacy law

China’s 2020 Cryptography Law in the Context of China’s Burgeoning Data Privacy and Security Regime

China Privacy Law, Cybersecurity, Privacy Law , , , ,

[Originally published as a Feature Article: China’s 2020 Cryptography Law in the Context of China’s Burgeoning Data Privacy and Security Regime, by Carolyn K. Luong, in Orange County Lawyer Magazine, April 2020, Vol. 62 No.4, page 31.]

By Carolyn Luong

U.S.-China relations have been a trending topic throughout the past year due to several conflicts involving the alleged encroachment upon free speech principles and perceived threats to U.S. national security. The NBA and Activision-Blizzard, both U.S.-based organizations, fielded criticisms in October of 2019 for supposed political censorship motivated by the fear of losing Chinese customers. Furthermore, as the U.S. races to build out its 5G infrastructure, the U.S. government has explicitly restricted U.S. corporations from conducting business with Chinese technology manufacturer Huawei upon apprehension that Huawei equipment may contain backdoors to enable surveillance by the Chinese government.[1]

Dr. Christopher Ford, Assistant Secretary of the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation remarked in September that, “Firms such as Huawei, Tencent, ZTE, Alibaba, and Baidu have no meaningful ability to tell the Chinese Communist Party ‘no’ if officials decide to ask for their assistance—e.g., in the form of access to foreign technologies, access to foreign networks, useful information about foreign commercial counterparties . . . .”[2] These Chinese firms in response firmly deny any allegations of contemplated or actual instances of required cooperation with the Chinese government to compromise user information or equipment.

Continue Reading China’s 2020 Cryptography Law in the Context of China’s Burgeoning Data Privacy and Security Regime

American Privacy Laws in a Global Context: Predictions for 2018

Cybersecurity, GDPR, Privacy Law , , , , , , , , ,
Should putative class members have privacy rights in class action claims under the CCPA?
Image Credit: kmicican from pixabay.com

[Originally published as the May 2018 Cover Story: Data Privacy and the Law – American Privacy Laws in a Global Context: Predictions for 2018, by Lily Li, in Orange County Lawyer Magazine, May 2018, Vol. 60 No.5.]

Cybersecurity Attacks Are Inevitable

Cybersecurity attacks are on the rise. According to the non-profit organization, Identity Theft Resource Center, there were over 1,579 publicly reported data breaches in 2017, compared to 1,091 in 2016, and 780 in 2015. Not only are these cyberattacks happening at high-profile companies like Equifax, Uber, and Yahoo, they are increasingly happening to businesses of all sizes. Any entity able to pay a ransom is now a potential target.

Law firms are no exception. In 2017, DLA Piper was hit with a “wiper-ware” attack, following previous email hacks of Cravath and Weil Gotshal in 2016. Earlier this year, UK-based cybersecurity firm, RepKnight, reported that almost 800,000 UK law firm email addresses and affiliated passwords were available on the dark web, with over 50% of these credentials posted in the last six months. These law firms did not just include local UK firms, but global law firms with a UK presence.

Given these alarming statistics, what should legislators do?

In the EU, Canada, and China, legislators have decided to develop and implement national data privacy and cybersecurity frameworks: GDPR, PIPEDA, and CSL respectively. The United States, by contrast, still relies upon a patchwork of sectoral laws and inconsistent state rules. This article will take a brief look at developments in the EU, Canada, and China, discuss the current United States privacy framework, and predict likely developments in U.S. privacy law over the next year.Continue Reading American Privacy Laws in a Global Context: Predictions for 2018