Data Protection and Capital Punishment – The 36 Group

‘Case note on the Supreme Court’s judgment in Elgizouli (appellant) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (respondent) [2020] UKSC 10.’

Full Story

The 36 Group, 30th March 2020

Source: 36group.co.uk

Morrisons not liable for massive staff data leak, court rules – The Guardian

‘The UK’s highest court has ruled that Morrisons should not be held liable for the criminal act of an employee with a grudge who leaked the payroll data of about 100,000 members of staff.’

Full Story

The Guardian, 1st April 2020

Source: www.theguardian.com

Government acted unlawfully in sharing information that could lead to death penalty, rules UK Supreme Court – Garden Court Chambers

‘The UK Supreme Court today ruled that the British Government acted unlawfully in a case where it departed from the UK’s longstanding policy on opposing the death penalty in all circumstances.’

Full Story

Garden Court Chambers, 25th March 2020

Source: www.gardencourtchambers.co.uk

Substantial compliance just won’t do: Supreme Court on international data transfers under DPA Part 3 – Panopticon

‘Foreign fighters. Law enforcement cooperation with the US. The death penalty. A seven judge bench in the Supreme Court. Despite showing all the signs of a landmark public law decision, Elgizouli v Secretary of the State for the Home Department [2020] UKSC 10 was a bit of a fizzer on that front. In the end, the real meat was in the DPA 2018’s regulation of law enforcement processing and international data transfers.’

Full Story

Panopticon, 30th March 2020

Source: panopticonblog.com

Watchdog approves use of UK phone data if it helps fight coronavirus – The Guardian

‘The UK’s privacy watchdog has said the government can use personal data from people’s mobile phones to track and monitor behaviour if it helps fight the spread of coronavirus.’

Full Story

The Guardian, 27th March 2020

Source: www.theguardian.com

New Judgment: Elgizouli (AP) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] UKSC 10 – UKSC Blog

‘The appellant’s son is alleged to have been one of a group of terrorists operating in Syria, involved in the murder of US and British citizens. The US made a mutual legal assistance request to the UK in relation to an investigation into the activities of that group. The Home Secretary requested an assurance that the information would not be used directly or indirectly in a prosecution that could lead to the imposition of the death penalty. The US refused to provide a full death penalty assurance and the Home Secretary agreed to provide information to the US without requiring any assurance. The appellant challenged the Home Secretary’s decision by way of judicial review. The questions for the Supreme Court were firstly whether it is unlawful for the Secretary of State to exercise his power to provide MLA so as to supply evidence to a foreign state that will facilitate the imposition of the death penalty in that state on the individual and secondly whether it is lawful under the Data Protection Act 2018, Part 3 for law enforcement authorities in the UK to transfer personal data to law enforcement authorities abroad for use in capital criminal proceedings.’

Full Story

UKSC Blog, 25th March 2020

Source: ukscblog.com

UK broke law over IS ‘Beatles’ by passing information to US – BBC News

‘The UK acted unlawfully by passing evidence to the US that could lead to the execution of two British members of an Islamic State murder squad.’

Full Story

BBC News, 25th March 2020

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Coronavirus and Information Law – Panopticon

Posted March 23rd, 2020 in bills, chambers articles, coronavirus, data protection, news by sally

‘Here are some initial responses to the Coronavirus pandemic from an information law perspective.’

Full Story

Panopticon, 20th March 2020

Source: panopticonblog.com

Big Data in the Post-Brexit Era – Where Oh Where Will It Be? – The 36 Group

Posted March 23rd, 2020 in brexit, chambers articles, data protection, EC law, internet, jurisdiction, news by sally

‘Joseph Dalby SC and Flavia Kenyon, barristers at 36 Commercial, examine the reasons and implications of big data and social media giants moving UK-data overseas.’

Full Story

The 36 Group, 4th March 2020

Source: 36group.co.uk

Information watchdog warns of dangers of school photos and wrongful disclosure of personal data – Local Government Lawyer

‘The Information Commissioner’s Office has issued two reprimands, or legal warnings, to schools for wrongly disclosing the personal data of children.’

Full Story

Local Government Lawyer, 11th March 2020

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

‘Astonishing breakthrough’: Munby hails access to family justice data – Law Society’s Gazette

Posted March 5th, 2020 in anonymity, data protection, family courts, news by tracey

‘A national support service representing children in family court cases has opened up its data to researchers as part of wider efforts to understand how well the family justice system is working. Cafcass has transferred its file data to the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank, which is based at the University of Swansea. Cafcass said the move was part of a strategy to exchange knowledge and learning with key partners such as the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory, set up by the Nuffield Foundation to improve the use of data and research in the family justice system.’

Full Story

Law Society's Gazette, 3rd March 2020

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Strasbourg Court rules against UK on police retention of data – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted February 27th, 2020 in criminal records, data protection, DNA, human rights, news by tracey

‘Can the police indefinitely retain an individual’s DNA profile, fingerprints and photograph after they have been convicted? That was the question before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Gaughran v UK (no. 45245/15, ECHR 2020). This judgment — which was given for the applicant — is of interest both on the merits and as an example of the way the Court continues to approach issues of this kind.’

Full Story

UK Human Rights Blog, 26th February 2020

Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com

‘Cover-up’: DWP destroyed reports into people who killed themselves after benefits were stopped – The Independent

Posted February 27th, 2020 in benefits, data protection, government departments, news, suicide by tracey

‘The Department for Work and Pensions has been accused of “a cover-up” after destroying reports into suicides linked to benefits being stopped. Around 50 reviews into deaths following the loss of social security payments before 2015 have been shredded, officials have admitted – blaming data protection laws.’

Full Story

The Independent, 26th February 2020

Source: www.independent.co.uk

Let’s face it: use of automated facial recognition technology by the police – UK Police Law Blog

‘The case of R (Bridges) v Chief Constable of South Wales Police & Information Commissioner [2019] EWHC 2341 (Admin); [2020] 1 WLR 672 is said to have been the first claim brought before a court anywhere on planet earth concerning the use by police of automated facial recognition (“AFR”) technology. There could be nothing wrong with posting scores of police officers with eidetic memories to look out for up to a 800 wanted persons at public gatherings. So why not use a powerful computer, capable of matching 50 faces a second with a database of (under) 800 suspects, to do this job much more cheaply and instantaneously, flagging any matches to a human operator for final assessment? According to the Divisional Court in Bridges, this may, depending on the facts of each particular deployment, be lawful.’

Full Story

UK Police Law Blog, 21st February 2020

Source: ukpolicelawblog.com

Rules urgently needed to oversee police use of data and AI – report – The Guardian

‘National guidance is urgently needed to oversee the police’s use of data-driven technology amid concerns that it could lead to discrimination, a report has said.’

Full Story

The Guardian, 23rd February 2020

Source: www.theguardian.com

UK court hears bid to access fertility clinic’s records on dead person – The Guardian

Posted February 21st, 2020 in bereavement, data protection, families, family courts, news, pregnancy by sally

‘A legal action over access to a fertility clinic’s private records concerning the storage of a dead person’s “sperm and/or embryos” is being heard by the family court partly in secret.’

Full Story

The Guardian, 19th February 2020

Source: www.theguardian.com

What are the rules on workplace surveillance? – BBC News

Posted February 21st, 2020 in computer programs, data protection, employment, human rights, news, privacy, spying by sally

‘Barclays has faced a backlash after it piloted a system that tracked the time employees spent at their desks. The company has since scrapped the system – but how common is workplace surveillance and what lengths are employers allowed to go to monitor their staff?‘

Full Story

BBC News, 20th February 2020

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Met Police remove 374 names from gangs matrix – BBC News

Posted February 17th, 2020 in data protection, gangs, news, ombudsmen, police, statistics by sally

‘The Metropolitan Police has removed 374 people from its gangs matrix after the UK’s data watchdog found it breached data protection laws.’

Full Story

BBC News, 15th February 2020

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Judge orders MI5 not to delete databanks before end of surveillance trial – The Guardian

Posted February 11th, 2020 in data protection, intelligence services, investigatory powers, news by sally

‘MI5 has been ordered by a senior judge not to delete vast databanks of personal information it is storing pending the outcome of a trial over the legality of its surveillance procedures.’

Full Story

The Guardian, 10th February 2020

Source: www.theguardian.com

Brexit and GDPR – Law Society’s Gazette

Posted February 10th, 2020 in brexit, data protection, EC law, fines, news by sally

‘Brexit has finally been ‘done’ but what can we data protection lawyers look forward to? Can we bin the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) along with our red EU passports?’

Full Story

Law Society's Gazette, 10th February 2020

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk