R (on the application of Evans) and another (Respondents) v Attorney General (Appellant) – Supreme Court
Supreme Court, 26th March 2015
Category: privacy
University admissions service broke data laws over targeted advertising – The Guardian
‘The universities admissions service, Ucas, broke data protection rules when it signed up teenagers to receive adverts about mobile phones, energy drinks and other products, the information commissioner has ruled.’
The Guardian, 8th April 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Vidal-Hall v Google Inc (Information Commissioner intervening) – WLR Daily
‘A claim for misuse of private information should be categorised as a tort for the purposes of service of proceedings out of the jurisdiction.’
WLR Daily, 18th March 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
More fines for unsolicited calls or texts likely, says ICO, as new rules come into force – OUT-LAW.com
‘Changes to the rules governing when the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) can fine companies for making unsolicited telephone calls or sending unsolicited text messages will help the UK’s privacy watchdog to “make more fines stick”, it has said.’
OUT-LAW.com, 7th April 2015
Source: www.out-law.com
Google and the DPA – RIP section 13(2) – Panopticon
‘Well, isn’t this an exciting week (and I don’t mean Zayn leaving One Direction)? First, Evans and now Vidal-Hall. We only need Dransfield to appear before Easter and there will be a full red bus analogy. Robin opened yesterday’s analysis of Evans by remarking on the sexiness of FOIA. If there is one thing you learn quickly as an information law practitioner, it is not to engage in a sexiness battle with Robin Hopkins. But high-profile though Evans is, the judgment in Vidal-Hall will be of far wider significance to anyone having to actually work in the field, rather than simply tuning every now and then to see the Supreme Court say something constitutional against a FOIA background. Vidal-Hall might not be the immediate head-turner, but it is probably going to be the life-changer for most of us. So, while still in the ‘friend zone’ with the Court of Appeal, before it all gets serious, it is important to explain what Vidal-Hall v Google [2015] EWCA Civ 311 does.’
Panopticon, 27th March 2015
Source: www.panopticonblog.com
Google loses UK appeal court battle over ‘clandestine’ tracking – The Guardian
‘Google has failed in its attempt in the court of appeal to prevent British consumers having the right to sue the internet firm in the UK.’
The Guardian, 27th March 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Is privacy dead? – OUP Blog
‘In 1980, personal computers were still in their infancy, and the internet did not exist. There were, of course, genuine concerns about threats to our privacy, but, looking back at my book of that year, they mostly revolved around telephone tapping, surveillance, and unwanted press intrusion. Data protection legislation was embryonic, and the concept of privacy as a human right was little more than a chimera.’
OUP Blog, 20th March 2015
Source: http://blog.oup.com
MoD ‘mole’ Bettina Jordan-Barber jailed over Sun leaks – The Guardian
‘A “mole” at the Ministry of Defence who made £100,000 from leaking stories to the Sun has been jailed for 12 months, it can now be reported after verdicts were delivered in a related trial.’
The Guardian, 20th March 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Why the cookies law wasn’t fully baked – and how to avoid being tracked online – The Guardian
‘The UK uses the most tracking cookies of any EU country. How should you be protecting your privacy online?’
The Guardian, 19th March 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Removal of clothing by police and Article 8 ECHR – Court of Appeal expresses sympathy for vulnerable position of children in custody – UK Human Rights Blog
‘The Court of Appeal has considered the compatibility with Article 8 ECHR of the police’s removal of a 14 year old girl’s clothing after she had been arrested and taken to a police station.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 9th March 2015
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
UK surveillance laws need total overhaul, says landmark report – The Guardian
‘Britain’s laws governing the intelligence agencies and mass surveillance require a total overhaul to make them more transparent, comprehensible and up to date, parliament’s intelligence and security committee (ISC) has said in a landmark report prompted by the revelations of Edward Snowden, the former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor.’
The Guardian, 12th March 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Catt is put back in the bag – supreme court reverses court of appeal in police data retention case – Panopticon
‘The Catt and T cases are both concerned with this important question: to what extent may the police lawfully retain records relating to individuals who have not in fact been arrested or charged in connection with any criminal offence. The Supreme Court has now had its say on this question – see the judgment here.’
Panopticon, 11th March 2015
Source: www.panopticonblog.com
High Court considers purpose behind subject access request under the DPA – Panopticon
‘It is not uncommon for data controllers to be faced with subject access requests under s. 7 of the Data Protection Act 1998 the motivations for which appear to have nothing whatever to do with the purposes of the DPA. The DPA seeks to protect individuals’ privacy rights with respect to data which is processed about them. The subject access provisions help people check up on that data and its processing (see for example YS v Minister voor Immigratie (Cases C-141/12 & C-372/12)). In practice, however, a subject access request is a fishing expedition with an eye on prospective litigation.’
Panopticon, 10th March 2015
Source: www.panopticonblog.com
Public protest, private rights – UK Human Rights Blog
‘R (Catt) and R (T) v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis [2015] UKSC 9. A majority of the Supreme Court has held that the retention by police of information on the Domestic Extremism Database about a 91 year-old activist’s presence at political protests was (1) in accordance with the law and (2) a proportionate interference with his right to a private life under Article 8(1) of the ECHR.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 6th March 2015
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
MPs ‘dismayed’ that police continue to compile database of faces – The Guardian
‘A committee of MPs has condemned police for continuing to upload custody photographs, including of people never charged, to a face recognition database, despite a high court judgement that ruled the practice was unlawful.’
The Guardian, 7th March 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Brighton activist John Catt loses extremism database case – BBC News
‘Police chiefs have won a court battle against a 90-year-old peace activist fighting to have his personal details removed from an extremism database.’
BBC News, 4th March 2015
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Ex-banker awarded £70,000 after police wrongly released his picture as ‘most-wanted’ rapist – The Independent
‘A former City banker has won nearly £70,000 in damages from Essex Police after he was named on a “most wanted list” as a suspected rapist on the run – despite phoning the force on his own initiative and offering to fly from Dubai to explain his innocence.’
The Independent, 2nd March 2015
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Access all areas? – New Law Journal
‘Overriding lawyer-client & confidential communications is incompatible with the rule of law, as Nicholas Griffin QC, Robert O’Sullivan QC & Gordon Nardell QC explain.’
New Law Journal, 27th February 2015
Source: www.newlawjournal.co.uk
The Big Fat Gypsy Judicial Review – UK Human Rights Blog
‘Traveller Movement v Ofcom and Channel 4, [2015] EWHC 406 (Admin), 20 February 2015. One of the nation’s great televisual fascinations last week became the unlikely subject of an Administrative Court judgment that demonstrates the limits of common law standards of fairness, as well as the lightness of touch applied by the courts when reviewing the decision-making of the media regulator.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 26th February 2015
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
