Data Protection Directive

When talking about EU privacy law many businesses bemoan the lack of a “commercially reasonable” basis for collecting and using personal information. Europe is usually seen as a consumer-protective regime which focuses on prohibiting business from doing anything with data unless the consumer has affirmatively agreed to the processing before the processing begins (e.g. the “cookie directive”). However, the Article 29 Working Party (“WP”) has just released an Opinion which signals a change in the winds. The rarely used “legitimate interest of the data controller” basis for processing now has a new importance in the realm of fair and legal criteria for processing personal information.
Continue Reading On Balance – the Legitimate Interest of a Controller