In which scenario is a Controller most likely required to undertake a Data Protection Impact Assessment?
Why is advisable to avoid consent as a legal basis for an employer to process employee data?
SCENARIO
Please use the following to answer the next question:
WonderkKids provides an online booking service for childcare. Wonderkids is based in France, but hosts its website through a company in Switzerland. As part of their service, WonderKids will pass all personal data provided to them to the childcare provider booked through their system. The type of personal data collected on the website includes the name of the person booking the childcare, address and contact details, as well as information about the children to be cared for including name, age, gender and health information. The privacy statement on Wonderkids’ website states the following:
“WonderkKids provides the information you disclose to us through this website to your childcare provider for scheduling and health and safety reasons. We may also use your and your child’s personal information for our own legitimate business purposes and we employ a third-party website hosting company located in Switzerland to store the data. Any data stored on equipment located in Switzerland meets the European Commission provisions for guaranteeing adequate safeguards for you and your child’s personal information. We will only share you and your child’s personal information with businesses that we see as adding real value to you. By providing us with any personal data, you consent to its transfer to affiliated businesses and to send you promotional offers.”
“We may retain you and your child’s personal information for no more than 28 days, at which point the data will be depersonalized, unless your personal information is being used for a legitimate business purpose beyond 28 days where it may be retained for up to 2 years.”
“We are processing you and your child’s personal information with your consent. If you choose not to provide certain information to us, you may not be able to use our services. You have the right to: request access to you and your child’s personal information; rectify or erase you or your child’s personal information; the right to correction or erasure of you and/or your child’s personal information; object to any processing of you and your child’s personal information. You also have the right to complain to the supervisory authority about our data processing activities.”
What must the contract between WonderKids and the hosting service provider contain?
Which of the following is NOT exempt from the material scope of the GDPR. insofar as the processing of personal data is concerned?
You are the new Data Protection Officer for your company and have to determine whether the company has implemented appropriate technical and organizational measures as required by Article 32 of the GDPR. Which of the following would be the most important to consider when trying to determine this?
SCENARIO
Please use the following to answer the next question:
Liem, an online retailer known for its environmentally friendly shoes, has recently expanded its presence in Europe. Anxious to achieve market dominance, Liem teamed up with another eco friendly company, EcoMick, which sells accessories like belts and bags. Together the companies drew up a series of marketing campaigns designed to highlight the environmental and economic benefits of their products. After months of planning, Liem and EcoMick entered into a data sharing agreement to use the same marketing database, MarketIQ, to send the campaigns to their respective contacts.
Liem and EcoMick also entered into a data processing agreement with MarketIQ, the terms of which included processing personal data only upon Liem and EcoMick’s instructions, and making available to them all information necessary to demonstrate compliance with GDPR obligations.
Liem and EcoMick then procured the services of a company called JaphSoft, a marketing optimization firm that uses machine learning to help companies run successful campaigns. Clients provide JaphSoft with the personal data of individuals they would like to be targeted in each campaign. To ensure protection of its
clients’ data, JaphSoft implements the technical and organizational measures it deems appropriate. JaphSoft works to continually improve its machine learning models by analyzing the data it receives from its clients to determine the most successful components of a successful campaign. JaphSoft then uses such models in providing services to its client-base. Since the models improve only over a period of time as more information
is collected, JaphSoft does not have a deletion process for the data it receives from clients. However, to ensure compliance with data privacy rules, JaphSoft pseudonymizes the personal data by removing identifying
information from the contact information. JaphSoft’s engineers, however, maintain all contact information in the same database as the identifying information.
Under its agreement with Liem and EcoMick, JaphSoft received access to MarketIQ, which included contact information as well as prior purchase history for such contacts, to create campaigns that would result in the most views of the two companies’ websites. A prior Liem customer, Ms. Iman, received a marketing campaign from JaphSoft regarding Liem’s as well as EcoMick’s latest products. While Ms. Iman recalls checking a box to receive information in the future regarding Liem’s products, she has never shopped EcoMick, nor provided her personal data to that company.
For what reason would JaphSoft be considered a controller under the GDPR?
SCENARIO
Please use the following to answer the next question:
Brady is a computer programmer based in New Zealand who has been running his own business for two years. Brady’s business provides a low-cost suite of services to customers throughout the European Economic Area (EEA). The services are targeted towards new and aspiring small business owners. Brady’s company, called Brady Box, provides web page design services, a Social Networking Service (SNS) and consulting services that help people manage their own online stores.
Unfortunately, Brady has been receiving some complaints. A customer named Anna recently uploaded her plans for a new product onto Brady Box’s chat area, which is open to public viewing. Although she realized her mistake two weeks later and removed the document, Anna is holding Brady Box responsible for not noticing the error through regular monitoring of the website. Brady believes he should not be held liable.
Another customer, Felipe, was alarmed to discover that his personal information was transferred to a third- party contractor called Hermes Designs and worries that sensitive information regarding his business plans may be misused. Brady does not believe he violated European privacy rules. He provides a privacy notice to all of his customers explicitly stating that personal data may be transferred to specific third parties in fulfillment of a requested service. Felipe says he read the privacy notice but that it was long and complicated
Brady continues to insist that Felipe has no need to be concerned, as he can personally vouch for the integrity of Hermes Designs. In fact, Hermes Designs has taken the initiative to create sample customized banner advertisements for customers like Felipe. Brady is happy to provide a link to the example banner ads, now posted on the Hermes Designs webpage. Hermes Designs plans on following up with direct marketing to these customers.
Brady was surprised when another customer, Serge, expressed his dismay that a quotation by him is being used within a graphic collage on Brady Box’s home webpage. The quotation is attributed to Serge by first and last name. Brady, however, was not worried about any sort of litigation. He wrote back to Serge to let him know that he found the quotation within Brady Box’s Social Networking Service (SNS), as Serge himself had posted the quotation. In his response, Brady did offer to remove the quotation as a courtesy.
Despite some customer complaints, Brady’s business is flourishing. He even supplements his income through online behavioral advertising (OBA) via a third-party ad network with whom he has set clearly defined roles. Brady is pleased that, although some customers are not explicitly aware of the OBA, the advertisements contain useful products and services.
Based on the scenario, what is the main reason that Brady should be concerned with Hermes Designs’ handling of customer personal data?
SCENARIO
Please use the following to answer the next question:
Due to rapidly expanding workforce, Company A has decided to outsource its payroll function to Company B. Company B is an established payroll service provider with a sizable client base and a solid reputation in the industry.
Company B’s payroll solution for Company A relies on the collection of time and attendance data obtained via a biometric entry system installed in each of Company A’s factories. Company B won’t hold any biometric data itself, but the related data will be uploaded to Company B’s UK servers and used to provide the payroll service. Company B’s live systems will contain the following information for each of Company A’s employees:
Name
Address
Date of Birth
Payroll number
National Insurance number
Sick pay entitlement
Maternity/paternity pay entitlement
Holiday entitlement
Pension and benefits contributions
Trade union contributions
Jenny is the compliance officer at Company A. She first considers whether Company A needs to carry out a data protection impact assessment in relation to the new time and attendance system, but isn’t sure whether or not this is required.
Jenny does know, however, that under the GDPR there must be a formal written agreement requiring Company B to use the time and attendance data only for the purpose of providing the payroll service, and to apply appropriate technical and organizational security measures for safeguarding the data. Jenny suggests that Company B obtain advice from its data protection officer. The company doesn’t have a DPO but agrees, in the interest of finalizing the contract, to sign up for the provisions in full. Company A enters into the contract.
Weeks later, while still under contract with Company A, Company B embarks upon a separate project meant to enhance the functionality of its payroll service, and engages Company C to help. Company C agrees to extract all personal data from Company B’s live systems in order to create a new database for Company B.
This database will be stored in a test environment hosted on Company C’s U.S. server. The two companies agree not to include any data processing provisions in their services agreement, as data is only being used for IT testing purposes.
Unfortunately, Company C’s U.S. server is only protected by an outdated IT security system, and suffers a cyber security incident soon after Company C begins work on the project. As a result, data relating to Company A’s employees is visible to anyone visiting Company C’s website. Company A is unaware of this until Jenny receives a letter from the supervisory authority in connection with the investigation that ensues. As soon as Jenny is made aware of the breach, she notifies all affected employees.
The GDPR requires sufficient guarantees of a company’s ability to implement adequate technical and organizational measures. What would be the most realistic way that Company B could have fulfilled this requirement?
An unforeseen power outage results in company Z’s lack of access to customer data for six hours. According to article 32 of the GDPR, this is considered a breach. Based on the WP 29’s February, 2018 guidance, company Z should do which of the following?
SCENARIO
Please use the following to answer the next question:
Louis, a long-time customer of Bedrock Insurance, was involved in a minor car accident a few months ago. Although no one was hurt, Louis has been plagued by texts and calls from a company called Accidentable offering to help him recover compensation for personal injury. Louis has heard about insurance companies selling customers’ data to third parties, and he’s convinced that Accidentable must have gotten his information from Bedrock Insurance.
Louis has also been receiving an increased amount of marketing information from Bedrock, trying to sell him their full range of their insurance policies.
Perturbed by this, Louis has started looking at price comparison sites on the internet and has been shocked to find that other insurers offer much cheaper rates than Bedrock, even though he has been a loyal customer for many years. When his Bedrock policy comes up for renewal, he decides to switch to Zantrum Insurance.
In order to activate his new insurance policy, Louis needs to supply Zantrum with information about his No Claims bonus, his vehicle and his driving history. After researching his rights under the GDPR, he writes to ask Bedrock to transfer his information directly to Zantrum. He also takes this opportunity to ask Bedrock to stop using his personal data for marketing purposes.
Bedrock supplies Louis with a PDF and XML (Extensible Markup Language) versions of his No Claims Certificate, but tells Louis it cannot transfer his data directly to Zantrum as this is not technically feasible. Bedrock also explains that Louis’s contract included a provision whereby Louis agreed that his data could be used for marketing purposes; according to Bedrock, it is too late for Louis to change his mind about this. It angers Louis when he recalls the wording of the contract, which was filled with legal jargon and very confusing.
In the meantime, Louis is still receiving unwanted calls from Accidentable Insurance. He writes to Accidentable to ask for the name of the organization that supplied his details to them. He warns Accidentable that he plans to complain to the data protection authority, because he thinks their company has been using his data unlawfully. His letter states that he does not want his data being used by them in any way.
Accidentable’s response letter confirms Louis’s suspicions. Accidentable is Bedrock Insurance’s wholly owned subsidiary, and they received information about Louis’s accident from Bedrock shortly after Louis submitted his accident claim. Accidentable assures Louis that there has been no breach of the GDPR, as Louis’s contract included, a provision in which he agreed to share his information with Bedrock’s affiliates for business purposes.
Louis is disgusted by the way in which he has been treated by Bedrock, and writes to them insisting that all his information be erased from their computer system.
After Louis has exercised his right to restrict the use of his data, under what conditions would Accidentable have grounds for refusing to comply?
