Over the last years, privacy concerns have significantly increased, and the recent adoption of the GDPR in May 2018 coupled with the Cambridge Analytica scandal now give cold sweats to most companies. SMEs are struggling to find their way in a field they have little understanding of (if any), and find it hard to know where to start from. This paper aims at providing them some basic information and checklist to start building a privacy management program without incurring significant expenditures or being a privacy expert.

In today’s economy digital data is treated as an economic good. Despite the daily use of digital data, its legal qualification is not yet clear. A minority of Swiss legal doctrine proposes that the owner of digital data is granted property rights in the sense of the Civil Code. This paper intends to analyze this proposition from a property law point of view.

The author examines if the social network facebook respects the legal data protection principles under the applicable law, and the possibility of the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner to investigate under art. 29 of the Federal Act on Data Protection. It results that facebook violates the proportionality, the consent and the binding to a purpose of the data processing. Also, the conditions of cross-border data transfer and data files subject to registration are not respected. However, due to the structure of art. 29 Federal Act on Data Protection as a «can»-regulation no measures are taken with the justification of costs and legal security. (as)

Machine Learning stands for the core technology of Artifical Intelligence that like no other topic will characterize the digital changes in the years to come. The resource « data » that feeds the self learning systems raises questions of disposal rights and privacy respecting processing. Furthermore questions of liability are paramount. The article discusses some of the essential regulation needs and design possibilities. (as)

E-Government has a great potential due to its diverse areas of application (i.eg. E-Health; E-Voting; E-Tax-Declaration; E-Adress-Change; Geoportal etc.). In the spotlight are not only the increase of efficiency and effectiveness but also the interaction and communication between citizens and the administration. The article begins with the content and the use cases of E-Government (including the pros and cons). Hereafter the federal and – in part – the cantonal aspirations are presented. Subsequently, the new law about E-Government of the canton of St. Gallen is given a closer look. The article closes with further legal considerations. (as)

Security is at the centre of discussions on e-voting. The ordinance of the federal Chancellery on e-voting (OVotE) was recently modified introducing a new legal requirement: the publication of the source code of the software of complete verifiability. The public can analyse the code of one of the main security-relevant components and contribute to improve it. «Security by transparency», so far a good practice, is now reflected in the federal legislation on e-voting. It sets a milestone in the legal design of e-voting, more particularly of its security and transparency, in line with best cantonal and international practices.

This article concentrates on the issue of the use of new technologies in the inheritance law. The focus is on inheritance under a will. The attention has been drawn to the existence of electronic wills in different legal systems. In addition, the considerations have been enriched with examples from international jurisprudence. The whole article focuses on hypothetical considerations concerning the future form and usefulness of e-will (electronic last will) in the Polish law. In order to confirm the theses presented in the article, two surveys were conducted – on a national and European scale. The results are published in this work. All the deliberations carried out in the article focus primarily on formal issues related to the inheritance under the will, including a hypothetical analysis of the formal and legal essence of e-wills.

The University of Calgary paid CAD 20’000 ransom money in Bitcoins to regain access to its e-mails. Also a medical center and even a Police Department in Massachusetts are said to have paid ransom money. Uber paid USD 100’000 to a hacker who stole personal data of 57 million passengers and drivers. (as)

The author was asked by the European Commission to analyze as external consultant the effectiveness of the SME IP Helpdesks, a policy measure which tries to boost the EU knowledge economy. He concludes that China’s economic might has undermined the concept of intangible asset protection and has accelerated the natural evolution of the IP system. Accepting the status quo will contribute to the supranational organization’s dissolution as it is being challenged by rising nationalism and economic competition. The author suggests a pre-emptive system transformation from competition and profit towards collaboration and purpose.

On 13 April 2018, the Japanese government issued an official decision on domain name system (DNS) blocking. There are various opinions both for and against DNS blocking in such a case because interested parties evaluate it from their own perspective. Many Internet service providers and scholars take a negative attitude towards the government’s policy, because the secrecy of communications is guaranteed by the Constitution of Japan. In this paper, I introduce the current discussion in Japan about DNS blocking of pirated digital contents and so-called leech sites on the Internet.

ECHR – The case of Big Brother Watch and Others v. the United Kingdom concerned complaints by journalists and rights organisations about three different surveillance regimes: (1) the bulk interception of communications; (2) intelligence sharing with foreign governments; and (3) the obtaining of communications data from communications service providers. (Judgment nos. 58170/13, 62322/14 and 24960/15)

ECHR – In Chamber judgment of June 28, 2018 in the case of M.L. and W.W. v. Germany the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been: no violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private life) of the European Convention on Human Rights. (Judgment nos. 60798/10 and 65599/10)

ECHR – In Chamber judgment of May 24, 2018 in the case of Laurent v. France the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been: a violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private life and correspondence) of the European Convention on Human Rights.(Judgment no. 28798/13)

CJUE – The sale of SIM cards on which services that can incur fees have been pre-loaded and pre-activated constitutes an aggressive unfair commercial practice when the consumers are not informed of that fact in advance. Such conduct constitutes, in particular, «inertia selling», which may be penalised by a national authority other than the authority provided for by EU law on electronic communications. (Judgment C-54/17)

CJEU – The posting on a website of a photograph that was freely accessible on another website with the consent of the author requires a new authorisation by that author. By posting on the internet, the photograph is made available to a new public. (Judgment C-161/17)

CJEU – The administrator of a fan page on Facebook is jointly responsible with Facebook for the processing of data of visitors to the page. The data protection authority of the Member State in which the administrator has its seat may, under Directive 95/46, act both against the administrator and against the Facebook subsidiary established in that Member State. (Judgement C-210/16)

BGH – The I. Civil Senate of the Federal Supreme Court which is also competent for IP issues has submitted to the Court of Justice of the European Union questions about the liability of the operator of web platform YouTube for IP-violating contents uploaded by a third party. (Judgment I ZR 140/15) (as)

BGH – The I. Civil Senate of the Federal Supreme Court which is also competent for IP issues has decided that the operator of a WIFI web access and a Tore-Exit-Node, though not liable as «Strörer» by omission under the new § 8 sec. 1 sentence 2 of the Telemediengesetz (TMG) applicable since October 13, 2017 for IP-violations committed by a third party by using his web access for filesharing, still can be subject of a blocking claim by the right’s holder following § 7 sec. 4 TMG. (Judgment I ZR 64/17) (as)

BGH – The III. Civil Senate of the Federal Supreme Court decided on July 12, 2018 that the contract concerning a user account on a social network is in principle part of the rights transferred to the heirs of the person initially entitled to the account. The heirs can claim against the network operator for access to the account including the communication contents. (Judgment III ZR 183/17)

The number of blockchain companies in Switzerland has risen sharply. The SBA welcomes this trend and takes a positive view of the high market momentum, as it boosts Switzerland’s attractiveness as a financial centre. Banks see blockchain technology as an opportunity opening up an array of possibilities for the country as a financial and technology location. Within the context of its priorities, the SBA promotes and supports an innovation-friendly environment in the digitalisation arena. This also includes promoting conditions that support the sustainable growth of companies involved in blockchain technology.

Monitoring major digital projects has once again been the focus activity for the FDPIC. The E-ID Act as the basis for using a SwissID, the risk report on using the OASI number as a universal personal identifier or the conditions that must be met by e-ticketing or public transport apps underline this prioritisation. As a supervisory authority, the Commissioner had to intervene to prevent the processing of data on compulsory health insurance and had to deal with data leaks at several large companies. As the Freedom of Information Commissioner, the FDPIC succeeded in achieving a substantial increase in the efficiency of his arbitration procedures and welcomed the National Council’s unanimous commitment to guaranteeing transparency in connection with public procurement – thus ensuring that the principle of freedom of information does not become a farce.

The European Parliament, Council and the European Commission on June 19, 2018 reached a political agreement on new rules that will allow data to be stored and processed everywhere in the EU without unjustified restrictions. The new rules will also support the creation of a competitive data economy within the Digital Single Market.

On May 31, 2018, the Commission is proposing to modernise and digitalise judicial cooperation for cross-border civil and commercial cases throughout the EU. It aims to make access to civil justice cheaper, more efficient and more accessible to citizens and businesses.