Covington regularly counsels clients in the United States, Europe and around the world regarding compliance with laws, regulations, and best practices involving the privacy and security of personal information. We not only evaluate our clients’ existing practices, but also offer creative, forward-thinking strategies to maximize new business opportunities within applicable privacy and security standards.
Our counseling and compliance work ranges from assisting clients in conducting privacy and security audits—to assess the ways in which they collect, handle, and protect their customers’ personal information—to advising on potential liability arising out of business practices, human resources procedures, marketing plans, and online activities. For example, we work with clients to formulate information security policies that comply with legal standards and best practices, and we often analyze our clients’ websites and information practices and proposals for compliance with their stated policies. We offer operational advice on how clients can structure marketing practices to meet federal, state, national and regional requirements regarding commercial e-mail, telemarketing, direct mail, and advertising. And in the European Union (EU), we advise on appropriate mechanisms to transfer personal data from the EU and assist clients with Binding Corporate Rules (BCR) applications, drafting certification documents under the US-EU Safe Harbor agreement, implementing model contracts and taking advantage of exemptions.
Representative Matters
- Work with a wide variety of clients to draft, refine, and implement website privacy policies and provide related advice regarding the operation of those sites, including advice regarding material changes to privacy policies.
- Advising social media services on compliance with U.S., EU and international data privacy laws in relation to its launch of new services and functionality, including geotargeting, facial recognition, targeted advertising, and customer segmentation.
- Advising several companies on BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) issues and German privacy issues raised by mandatory screening against EU and international terrorist lists
- Served as outside counsel to working group of affiliates and subsidiaries of major Internet client that met regularly to discuss privacy issues and methods for streamlining or modifying the client’s privacy and security practices.
- Advising telecommunications, pharmaceutical and other companies in relation to new services that involve increased use of personal data and analysis of “Big Data”.
- Advising clients on the rules in various international markets governing the use of email, SMS and related means for sending promotional content.
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