Artwork Created by AI Isn’t Copyrightable

Artificial Intelligence (AI) cannot be considered an “author” of a copyrighted work under the copyright law of the United States, and a work created by AI cannot be copyrighted. The decision was delivered by the Copyright Review Board of the United States Copyright Office (USCO), in response to a copyright registration application filed by the owner of an AI program. ...

EU Privacy Regulators Increase GDPR Enforcement Efforts

Following a decision given by the European Data Protection Supervisor and the Austrian Data Protection Authority in January, the French data protection regulator (CNIL) has also declared the use of Google Analytics for processing personal data of EU data subjects to violate the GDPR. CNIL concluded that Google Analytics transfers data to the US without implementing sufficient supplementary measures ...

Microsoft Announces New Principles for App Stores

Security and privacy, accountability, Fairness and Transparency, and Developer Choice – are the four areas covered by Microsoft’s new principles for its app stores. The new principles, eleven in total, are tightly based on the Open App Markets Bill currently debated by the U.S. Senate. The principles aim to promote competition, and they outline Microsoft’s obligations towards app developers, such ...

Israeli Bar: Use of Free Email and Storage Tools Violates Ethics Rules

A new comprehensive opinion by the Ethics Committee of the Israeli Bar states that lawyers who use a free email service provider (such as Gmail) to send and receive attorney-client communications violate their duty of confidentiality under the professional rules of conduct (the ethics rules).

In its opinion, the Ethics Committee addressed the concerns regarding lawyers’ conduct in the digital ...

Israeli Privacy Regulator Published Final Paper on Privacy Protection Officers

Following the draft paper published in October 2020, the Israeli Privacy Protection Authority published its final paper on the advisable appointment of Chief Privacy Officers (CPOs, sometimes referred to as Data Protection Officers – DPOs) in Israeli organizations. The paper explains that although Israeli law does not mandate the appointment of CPO/DPO (other than in one isolated instance related to ...

EU Official Calls for a Ban on NSO’s Pegasus

The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) has called for an EU-wide ban on the development and deployment of Pegasus and other spyware with similar capabilities, on account of the unprecedented risks arising from such spyware regarding the fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals, particularly the right to privacy, as well as risks to democracy itself.

The EDPS clarifies that if ...

Israeli Knesset Commences Deliberations on an Amended Protection of Privacy Law

The Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee of the Knesset (the Israeli parliament) commenced deliberations on the Protection of Privacy Bill (Amendment No. 14), 5782-2022, after its approval in first reading late January. The chair of the committee, Member of the Knesset Gilad Kariv, indicated that this amendment is “only the beginning” and that the mission at hand for the committee ...

Google Overhauls its Cookie Replacement Plan

Alphabet, Google’s parent company, revealed that it is working on a new user tracking system to replace the use of third-party advertisement cookies. The announcement arrives after Google faced harsh criticism for its previous cookie replacement plan.

Google’s first plan aimed to replace the use of cookies by allowing advertisers to target ads based on tens of thousands of small ...