Blog del Foro de Habeas Data

Credit Reporting by Pablo A. Palazzi. Published by Astrea (2007) Buenos Aires

This book presents the legal framework governing the use of personal data contained in credit reports. Its objective is to summarize case law and jurisprudence, Argentine as well as international, which for more than a decade have established the rights of data subjects with respect to credit reports. As a research work, this study pertains to personal rights, commercial law and personal data protection.

It covers habeas data and credit reporting legal frameworks in Argentina and in comparative law, strongly focused on Latin America, and also other uncommon topics such as identity theft – dealt with for the first time on a publication in South America- the right to oblivion, the right to privacy with respect to the gathering of personal data, habeas data procedural features, and the criteria for assigning liability in this area of the law.

My new book about the legal regime of Credit Reporting in Latin America
has just been published in Argentina. You can find more information about the book, including an index, my introduction and the prologue from the Vicepresident of the Supreme Court of Argentina at this post:

http://www.pablopalazzi.net/2007/10/31/nuevo-libro-sobre-informes-comerciales/

Los fabricantes de dispositivos wifi deberán informar a los consumidores las medidas para proteger la privacidad de la información en comunicaciones wireless a partir del primero de octubre de 2007.

La ley (AB 2415) fue aprobada por el Estado de California y establece como obligación la de informar a los consumidores o adquirentes de estos dispositivos ya sea mediante una leyenda en el software o mediante una etiqueta en el producto. Se debe incluir una noticia donde se explica cómo el consumidor puede proteger su privacidad y seguridad en relación con la red de acceso inhalámbrico y el acceso no autorizado a la misma. Esta protección que queda como una opción para el usuario consiste básicamente en habilitar la opción de clave de acceso. La posibilidad de cerrar la red podría transformar en delito de acceso no autorizado tanto bajo la ley federal de delitos informáticos como el código penal de california, al piggybacking o wardriving (el "colgarse" de una red wifi sin permiso).

Data Protection Agency of Argentina

Disposition 11/2006 - "Security Measures for the Treatment and Maintenance of the Personal Data Contained in Files, Records, Databanks and Databases, either non state Public and Private” be passed.

Bs. As., 9/19/2006
Publication in the Official Gazette: 9/22/2006

IN VIEW OF File No 153,743/06 of the registry of the MINISTRY OF JUSTICE AND HUMAM RIGHTS, the responsibilities ascribed to the NATIONAL BUREAU FOR THE PROTECTION OF PERSONAL DATA by Act 25,326 and establishment thereof by Decree 1558 of November 29 2001, and

News about data protection in Latin America

First Semester - January-July 2006
By Pablo Palazzi

1) Citibank case
The case arose when Citibank sent a letter to all their customers in Argentina informing them of its new privacy policy. The letter also provided a ten-day period to opt out from the sharing of the client's personal information. A disgruntled client sued the bank seeking the confidentiality of his personal data. Judgement was rendered in his favour.

The court held that it was not sufficient for the bank to simply let customers opt out of having their personal data used for purposes other than those relating to their banking service. The Court of Appeals also shared the view exposed by the advocate general at the commercial court of appeals who held that the use of that personal information for marketing purposes amounted to an infringement of the purpose limitation principle of the data protection act (this is the first case enforcing this principle in Argentina).

EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS
6.6.2006
Press release issued by the Registrar
CHAMBER JUDGMENT
SEGERSTEDT-WIBERG AND OTHERS v. SWEDEN

The European Court of Human Rights has today notified in writing its Chamber judgment1 in the case of Segerstedt-Wiberg and Others v. Sweden (application no. 62332/00).

Concerning four of the applicants (Per Nygren, Staffan Ehnebom, Bengt Frejd and Herman Schmid), the Court held unanimously that there had been:

· a violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights;

· a violation of Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the Convention; and

The Right to Privacy
Warren and Brandeis

Harvard Law Review.
Vol. IV December 15, 1890 No. 5
THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY[*] .

"It could be done only on principles of private justice, moral fitness, and public convenience, which, when applied to a new subject, make common law without a precedent; much more when received and approved by usage." — Willes, J., in Millar v. Taylor, 4 Burr. 2303, 2312

That the individual shall have full protection in person and in property is a principle as old as the common law; but it has been found necessary from time to time to define anew the exact nature and extent of such protection. Political, social, and economic changes entail the recognition of new rights, and the common law, in its eternal youth, grows to meet the new demands of society. Thus, in very early times, the law gave a remedy only for physical interference with life and property, for trespasses vi et armis. Then the "right to life" served only to protect the subject from battery in its various forms; liberty meant freedom from actual restraint; and the right to property secured to the individual his lands and his cattle. Later, there came a recognition of man's spiritual nature, of his feelings and his intellect. Gradually the scope of these legal rights broadened; and now the right to life has come to mean the right to enjoy life, -- the right to be let alone; the right to liberty secures the exercise of extensive civil privileges; and the term "property" has grown to comprise every form of possession -- intangible, as well as tangible.

Data Protection Act of Argentina
Law 25,326
Enacted October 4th, 2000.
Partial Promulgation October 30th, 2000 (partial veto by Decree 995/2000).
Official Journal November 2nd, 2000, amended by Law 26.343.

Unofficial translation, hyperlinks and notes by Pablo A. Palazzi from the legal text published in the Official Journal of Argentina.

First Spam decision in Latin America

On April 7, 2006 a federal judge from the City of Buenos Aires (Argentina) issued the first decision in a spam case. Plaintiffs Gustavo Daniel Tanus and Pablo Andres Palazzi sued a spammer under the new data protection law of Argentina.

In their complaint the two plaintiffs argued that section 27 of the 2000 Argentine Data Protection Law gives them a right to opt out, which the spammer did not comply with when they asked to be removed from the database (They demanded that their email be deleted from the database).

Public Voice Roundtable Consumers and Privacy in South America
April 16, 2004

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Organized by
the Electronic Privacy Information Center
Consumers International (Oficina para América latina y el Caribe)
the Instituto de Derecho del Consumidor del Colegio Público de Abogados de la Capital Federal
the Foro de Habeas Data

Conference Information

Objectives
Promote the dialogue between South American consumer protection organizations, experts in consumer and privacy law and government data protection agencies.

Argentina - Constitution
Adopted in 1853-1994
Constitution of the Argentine Nation

Preamble
We, the representatives of the people of the Argentine Nation, gathered in General Constituent Assembly by the will and election of the Provinces which compose it, in fulfillment of pre-existing pacts, in order to form a national union, guarantee justice, secure domestic peace, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves, to our posterity, and to all men of the world who wish to dwell on argentine soil: invoking the protection of God, source of all reason and justice: do ordain, decree, and establish this Constitution for the Argentine Nation.