Top News - Meta faces an EEA-wide ban; EU council agrees on new health law and more

EEA-wide ban imposed on Meta Ireland

The EDPB’s recently published binding decision instructed the Irish Data Protection Authority to impose a European Economic Area-wide ban on Meta Ireland’s personal data processing toward behavioral advertising on the basis of contract and legitimate interest. In December 2022, EDPB’s binding decision found that the contract is not a suitable basis for the processing of personal data that Meta was conducting. The Ireland DPA also found that Meta did not comply with orders imposed at the end of 2022. Read more

Health care sector cybersecurity guidelines issued in Singapore

Singapore’s Ministry of Health and the Cybersecurity Agency of Singapore issued cyber and data security guidelines for health care providers. Th guidelines have been issued to promote awareness among healthcare providers, giving way to a health care bill with regulatory requirements that they plan to introduce. The exact time of the implementation of the requirements is yet to be announced. An appropriate sunrise period will be provided for companies to comply. The Ministry of Health will also survey healthcare providers in the coming year to help them set up better their resources, and understand their current cyber and data security situation. This will help the Ministry help the providers better prepare for the implementation of the bill. Read more

Cyberattack faced by the British Library

Employee’s personal data was leaked by a ransomware gang according to the British Library. The attack affected the website, online systems, services and in person services including reading rooms and public wi-fi. The library confirmed in November that the technological issues were a result of the cyber attack. The stolen data was offered to a buyer in exchange for bitcoins valued at approximately $750,000. Read more

Council of the European Union agrees on new health law mandate

The proposed regulation, the European Health Data Space aims to ease the exchange and access health data at the EU level. The EU member state ambassadors agreed on the Councils mandate for the new law. The regulation will help individuals have control of their personal electronic health data and have improved access to it, it will also allow certain data to be used for research and innovation purposes. It aims to solve the issue of access to cross border health data as it currently varies across the EU. Read more

Dark patterns guidelines drafted in India

The India Department of Consumer Affairs published their guidelines to prevent dark patterns on websites with the intention of raising awareness and helping consumers avoid being negatively impacted by the deceptive marketing practices known as dark patterns on company websites. Read more