This is a short article I wrote for the BEERG (Brussels European Employee Relations Group) weekly newsletter on some interesting recent developments on data protection, particularly the criticisms of the Irish Data Protection Commission. Though unconnected, I had a short Twitter exchange with renowned privacy advocate, Max Schrems, on a related topic, a few days later.
In early December one of the five directors at Belgium’s Data Protection Authority (APD/GBA) resigned, citing the same concerns about a “lack of independence” at the authority which the EU Commission had raised several weeks earlier.
In November VRT (public-service broadcaster for the Flemish Community of Belgium) ran a story saying that the European Commission was commencing infringement proceeding against Belgium claiming that:
some members of the APD/GBA cannot currently be considered free from outside influence, as they either report to a management committee dependent on the Belgian government, have participated in government projects for the detection of COVID-19- contacts, or are a member of the Information Security Committee.
Continue reading “GDPR: Going after the DPAs – First Belgium… Ireland next?”
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