Implementing European Data Protection Regulation On the Internet

David Erdos, University of Cambridge Faculty of Law, Trinity Hall, has published European Data Protection Regulation and the New Media Internet: Mind the Implementation Gaps as University of Cambridge Faculty of Law Research Paper No. 30. Here is the abstract.

An extensive survey of European Economic Area (EEA) Data Protection Authorities (DPAs) explored the interface between the EU Data Protection Directive and the publication activities of seven types of ‘new media’ internet actor. It is demonstrated that these important regulators have generally adopted an expansive interpretative approach, holding data protection norms to be strongly engaged across this landscape. In contrast, implementation has been weak. Except for street mapping services, each type of new media actor had only faced relevant enforcement action from a minority of DPAs. DPA financial resourcing was also very limited. In addition, the reported enforcement efforts of the DPAs were far from harmonized. Extensive enforcement correlated with a particularly stringent interpretative approach but surprisingly not with better financial resourcing. The proposed General Data Protection Regulation is only likely to make a modest contribution to resolving these serious problems.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.