Data & IT Law Monthly: July 2015
The overview of interesting Data & IT Law articles and news in July 2015!
The article at JDSupra analyses the taxation of cloud computing under New York law. It addresses an interesting issues, when “remotely accessed hardware (which clearly qualifies as tangible personal property) is not taxable, while remotely accessed software (which for all intents and purposes has no tangible properties and only qualifies as tangible personal property because of a legal fiction written into the law) is subject to tax”.
The article describes the creation of Data Transparency Coalition. The purpose of the group is to automate compliance and make an access to law easier – using data. The proposed measures are: “existing financial software could easily be linked to open data legislation for automatic updates upon enactment of new laws. Other open data pros: automatically linking new laws to the old laws they change, connecting federal laws to state and local laws, and possibly even rooting out mistakes in old legislation.”
German public authorities held that Facebook’s “real name” policy violates individual privacy rights of German citizens. According to German authorities, it “blatantly violated the right to informational self-determination and constitutes a deliberate infringement of the Data Protection Act.”
The “right to be forgotten” has been introduced into Russian legal protection legislation. The user might apply for the right in these cases: “Information had been disseminated in contradiction of legislative requirements; Information that is inaccurate; Information that is accurate but is no longer relevant due to the subsequent development or actions of a data subject (with some exceptions).”
Smart Data Collective published an interesting article about Fantasy Sports. It tries to answer the basic problem: “Some say it’s definitely a game of skill, others claim it’s just another form of gambling and shouldn’t be legal.” Read more for further information.
The usual focus on the benefits of data and especially big data is for Big Law business. However, this article addresses the issue, how Small Law firms can benefit by using data and software in their everyday legal practice.
