The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (“the PCPD”), together with five data protection authorities from different jurisdictions (the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Gibraltar and Switzerland) (“the joint signatories”) issued a joint open letter on 21 July 2020 to companies providing video teleconferencing services (“the Open Letter”), reminding them of their obligations to comply with the relevant privacy laws and handle people’s personal data responsibly.
Further to the Open Letter, the joint signatories are delighted to receive positive responses from four video conferencing companies, in which various privacy and security practices implemented by these companies are highlighted. In the light of the prevalence of the video teleconferencing tools and the importance of the privacy issues concerned, the PCPD will, together with the other signatory authorities, further engage with the video conferencing companies in 2021 to address the issues on the privacy and security safeguards built-in to the video teleconferencing services.
A public statement providing an interim update of the Open Letter was issued on 23 December 2020 by the PCPD and the other five joint signatories. The full version of the statement can be downloaded here.