Digest for the month of November 2019
Your monthly digest on all legal technology news happening around the Caribbean.
Bahamas
* Legislation to regulate the financial technology (Fintech) and cryptocurrency space is being redrafted and will be released for a second consultation round before year-end. Click here to read more.
Barbados
* If all goes according to plan, Barbadians could be paying the promised 17.5 per cent online tax come early next year. Click here to read more.
* A female supervisor was charged under the Computer Misuse Act for sending photographs and video of another woman via a cellular phone. Such photographs are alleged to have been obscene and intended to cause or was reckless as to whether she caused distress to the woman about whom she intended the contents to be communicated. Click here to read more.
British Virgin Islands
* Opposition member Julian Fraser has said he believes implementing a Freedom of Information Act will not make a difference in relation to having access to information in the British Virgin Islands. Click here to read more.
Cayman Islands
* An outage of service at Cayman National Bank coincided with a major data breach at the bank’s sister company in the Isle of Man, but local CNB officials say the two incidents are unrelated. Click here to read more.
* Upgrades to the country’s CCTV network are nearing completion according to Financial Services and Home Affairs Minister Tara Rivers. She also told legislators that in 2020/2021 and beyond, the Department of Public Safety Communications plans to expand the integration of third party video systems into its video management system. Click here to read more.
Guyana
* The Guyana Defence Force (GDF) is set to benefit from five high-tech, long endurance drones valued at $180M which will boost the security of the country’s borders, maritime space and coastland.
Jamaica
* While travellers passing through United States airports will breathe easier after a federal court ruled warrantless searches of phones, tablets and laptops unconstitutional, several Jamaicans have recounted tales of trauma about what they deemed an invasion of privacy. Click here to read more.
* The joint select committee (JSC) which is reviewing the 2017 Data Protection Act, the Ministry of Science Energy and Technology (MSET), and the Ministry of Justice are mulling over provision in the legislation which makes it unlawful for employers to ask employees to supply health records as part of the terms of their contract. Click here to read more.
St. Kitts and Nevis
* The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC) officially launched its E-Litigation Portal Monday, which streamlines the components of judicial processes covering areas such as electronic court filings, electronic case management, billing collection, and court scheduling in St. Kitts and Nevis. Click here to read more.
Trinidad & Tobago
Cambridge Analytica investigations
* National Security Minister Stuart Young has written to Police Commissioner Gary Griffith calling for an investigation into claims made by former data analyst Christopher Wylie. Click here to read more.
* The probe into the UNC’s alleged involvement with Cambridge Analytica took a major step forward with the Minister of National Security’s formal request to the Commission of Police to commence a criminal investigation. Click here to read more. Click here to read more.
* CEO of the Telecommunications Services of TT (TSTT) Ronald Walcott denied claims by National Security Minister Stuart Young that members of the United National Congress (UNC) were given access to information on customers for political campaigning. Click here to read more.
* An opportunist! That’s how United National Congress (UNC) public relations officer Anita Haynes described Christopher Wylie who worked with Cambridge Analytica (CA) and conducted data mining and analyses in T&T. Haynes in a press release described Wylie’s claims against the UNC as untrue. Click here to read more.
* Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi has charged that Trinidad and Tobago was the centre stage and birthplace of Cambridge Analytica, which admitted to using personal information obtained via social media to target political campaigns and individuals. And the AG warned potential voters that the personal information derived by the United National Congress (UNC) when it was in government could be used in the December 2 local government elections. Click here to read more.
* Opposition MP Rodney Charles dismissed claims by National Security Minister Stuart Young that members of the People's Partnership-led government were involved in spying and data mining of private citizens as nonsense. He challenged Young, to come forward with the evidence if such claims were factual. Click here to read more.
