J.R.McHale

Law, Tech and Policy

U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Fair Use in Google-Oracle Software Battle (April 8, 2021) – Santa Clara law professor Tyler Ochoa with a lengthy blog post (8,000 words) explaining the decision.

Why It’s Easier to Move Country than Switch Social Media (April 12, 2021) – Activist and author, Cory Doctorow, on the importance of dealing with switching costs, in addition to a renewed emphasis on antitrust and interoperability.

Token Safe Harbor Proposal 2.0 (April 13, 2021) – SEC Commissioner Hester Pierce, with an update to her earlier proposal for a token safe harbor that would provide network developers with a three-year grace period within which, under certain conditions, they could facilitate participation in and development of a functional or decentralized network, exempted from federal securities registration requirements.

Final Report on Facial Recognition Technology (FRT) – (96-page pdf at the link: “New Surveillance Technologies in Public Spaces – Challenges and Perspectives for European Law at the Example of Facial Recognition” (April 2021)).

President Biden’s Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity – (May 12, 2021), along with accompanying White House Fact Sheet and Politico’s press coverage

The Judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (October 6, 2015)

Press Release of the Court of Justice of the European Union

Interview (Wall Street Journal) with the new President of the European Court of Justice

News Reports:

Data Transfer Pact Between U.S. and Europe Is Ruled Invalid – New York Times

This Privacy Activist Has Just won an Enormous Victory Against U.S. surveillance – Here’s How – Washington Post

Layperson Explainer:

US and EU in Data Privacy Clash: What You Need to Know – CNBC

Subsequent Developments – What Now?

Privacy Watchdogs Give EU, US Three Months to Negotiate New Safe Harbor Deal If There’s No New Deal by the End of January, National Data Protection Authorities Threaten Coordinated Legal Action Against Offending Companies – PCWorld

Europe’s Top Digital-Privacy Watchdog Zeros In on U.S. Tech Giants – New York Times

U.S. Tech Firms Look To Data Centers on European Soil – Wall Street Journal

Plaintiff Max Schrems:

Tech Companies Like Facebook Not Above the Law, Says Max Schrems; Austrian Student Who Took on Facebook over Data Privacy in the European Court of Justice and Won Says the Fightback is Just Beginning – The Guardian

First Thoughts on Decision C-362/14 – Max Schrems at Europe v. Facebook; Also see more Max Schrems reaction and background (pdf)

Big Tech Reaction:

The Collapse of the US-EU Safe Harbor: Solving the New Privacy Rubik’s Cube – Microsoft President and Chief Legal Officer, Brad Smith

Eric Schmidt Thinks a Ruling by Europe’s Top Court Threatens ‘One of the Greatest Achievements of Humanity’ – Business Insider

Other Reaction and Analysis:

Here’s How the Facebook Case has Just Transformed the Surveillance Debate – Washington Post

No Safe Harbor: How NSA Spying Undermined U.S. Tech and Europeans’ Privacy – EFF

Behind the European Privacy Ruling That’s Confounding Silicon Valley – New York Times

Fallout From EU-US Safe Harbor Ruling will be Dramatic and Far-Reaching; Clever Ruling by the Court of Justice will be Almost Impossible to Circumvent – ArsTechnica

Schrems v. Data Protection Commissioner – Some Inconvenient Truths The European Court of Justice Ignores and Surveillance Reform Is Only Hope for Reviving Safe Harbor – both by Timothy Edgar at LawFare

Adding Some Nuance on the European Court’s Safe Harbor Decision – Megan Graham at LawFare

Europe’s Top Court Goes Off the Rails – Richard Epstein at Politico

The Party’s Over: EU Data Protection Law after the Schrems Safe Harbour Judgment – EULaw.Analysis

My FT Oped on the Safe Harbor Fallout – Evgeny Morozov

Europe Has to Rebuild Its Safe Harbor – BloombergView Editorial Board

Enacting ECPA Reforms Will Help Resolve the US-EU Safe Harbor Negotiations – The Hill