No need to scour internet when assessing whether personal data is sensitive, UK tribunal rules – OUT-LAW.com

‘Businesses are not expected to scour the internet and other sources to check whether there is any information that, when linked with personal data they hold, would mean the data they hold is in fact sensitive personal data, according to a new UK ruling.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 1st September 2015

Source: www.out-law.com

Subject access request ruling could have implications for confidentiality of businesses’ internal reports, says expert – OUT-LAW.com

Posted August 28th, 2015 in data protection, disclosure, news, police by sally

‘Businesses that investigate data security incidents or potential cases of customer fraud could have greater scope to keep their internal documents secret as a result of a ruling by the High Court in London, an expert has said.’
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OUT-LAW.com, 28th October 2015

Source: www.out-law.com

Operation Motorman: Latin, Leveson and Personal Data – Panopticon

‘In Information Commissioner v Colenso-Dunne [2015] UKUT 471 (AAC), the UT was considering an appeal by the ICO concerning an order of the FTT that it disclose names of journalists that the ICO had seized during a raid on the home of Steve Whittamore in 2003. The raid was known as Operation Motorman, and it is generally supposed that Mr Whittamore, a private investigator, had a list of journalist who used his morally and legally dubious services.’

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Panopticon, 28th August 2015

Source: www.panopticonblog.com

Data breach management – making use of legal privilege – OUT-LAW.com

Posted August 27th, 2015 in data protection, documents, news, privilege by sally

‘FOCUS: Businesses that experience data security breaches can use the law of legal privilege to investigate the circumstances of those breaches without fear that internal investigation documents will be used against them by regulators or litigants.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 26th August 2015

Source: www.out-law.com

What the Ashley Madison case highlights about jurisdiction in data protection cases – OUT-LAW.com

Posted August 26th, 2015 in data protection, EC law, internet, jurisdiction, news by sally

‘FOCUS: The Ashley Madison data breach case highlights the unsatisfactory lack of clarity that exists over which data protection laws apply to businesses that operate across the world.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 24th August 2015

Source: www.out-law.com

Refusing a subject access request: proportionality, anxious scrutiny and judicial discretion – Panopticon

Posted August 26th, 2015 in burden of proof, data protection, disclosure, news, police, proportionality by sally

‘Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis [2015] EWHC 2484 (QB), a judgment of Green J handed down today, is an interesting – if somewhat fact-specific – contribution to the burgeoning body of case law on how subject access requests (SARs) made under the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) should be approached, both by data controllers and by courts.’

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Panopticon, 25th August 2015

Source: www.panopticonblog.com

Google ordered to remove news links by UK authority – BBC News

Posted August 25th, 2015 in data protection, internet, news, privacy by sally

‘Google has been ordered to remove nine links to news stories by the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) under the “right to be forgotten”.’

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BBC News, 21st August 2015

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Refusing to respond to subject access requests – legal professional privilege, disproportionate effort and collateral purposes – Panopticon

Posted August 13th, 2015 in data protection, news, privilege by sally

‘The Information Commissioner’s Code of Practice on Data Protection steadfastly maintains that data controllers cannot refuse to respond to a subject access request unless one of the specific exceptions in the Data Protection Act 1998 (“DPA”) applies. However, there is a growing body of case law on the circumstances in which the courts will refuse to enforce compliance with subject access requests under s 7(9) of the Act, even where one of the specific exceptions under the Act does not apply.’

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Panopticon, 12th August 2015

Source: www.panopticonblog.com

Dawson-Damer and others v Taylor Wessing LLP and others – WLR Daily

Dawson-Damer and others v Taylor Wessing LLP and others [2015] EWHC 2366 (Ch); [2015] WLR (D) 361

‘The purpose of section 7 of the Data Protection Act 1998 entitling an individual to have access to information in the form of his “personal data” was to enable him to check whether the data controller’s processing of it unlawfully infringed his privacy and, if so, to take such steps as the Act provided, to protect it. It was no part of its purpose to enable the individual to obtain discovery of documents that might assist him in litigation or complaints against third parties.’

WLR Daily, 6th August 2015

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Consumer rights rules will not apply where personal data, not money, is exchanged for digital content – OUT-LAW.com

Posted August 12th, 2015 in consumer protection, contracts, data protection, EC law, internet, news, privacy by sally

‘Businesses selling or licensing digital content will not have to honour most “rights and remedies” that consumers will have under new UK consumer protection laws where those consumers exchange access to their personal data rather than money in return for that content, a UK regulator has said.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 7th August 2015

Source: www.out-law.com

Councils have lost or misused private data thousands of times, says watchdog – The Guardian

Posted August 11th, 2015 in data protection, local government, news, privacy, reports by sally

‘Sensitive personal information has been lost or stolen in thousands of data breaches by councils, according to a study by privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch.’

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The Guardian, 11th August 2015

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Mental health background checks: new guidance issued by Home Office – The Guardian

‘New guidelines to be issued by the Home Office will make clear the factors that must be considered before mental health crises are disclosed in background checks made on people applying to work with vulnerable groups.’

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The Guardian, 9th August 2015

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

The Right to be Forgotten and the County Court – Panopticon

‘The right to be forgotten is beginning to generate some litigation, albeit not yet with any blaze of glory. Following on from the attempt to judicially review the ICO for refusing to try and enforce an individual’s complaint that his data rights were being breached (see here), earlier this week a claimant failed to get his right to be forgotten claim to fly before the Nottingham County Court.’

Full story

Panopticon, 31st July 2015

Source: www.panopticonblog.com

Facebook, drag artists and data protection dilemmas: ‘if you stand on our pitch, you must play by our rules’ – Panopticon

Posted July 31st, 2015 in anonymity, data protection, internet, news, privacy by sally

‘Facebook is one of the main battlegrounds between privacy and other social goods such as safety and security.’
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Panopticon, 31st July 2015

Source: www.panopticonblog.com

Man loses ‘right to be forgotten’ Google court bid – BBC News

‘A man involved in a £51m VAT scam has lost a legal bid to have news stories about him removed from Google under the so-called “right to be forgotten”.’
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BBC News, 30th July 2015

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Child Protection and Data Protection – Panopticon

‘The spectre of Jimmy Saville casts a long shadow and now it extends to data protection, the Data Protection Act 1998 being the latest august and uniformly popular institution (following the BBC, Broadmoor and Margaret Thatcher to name just some) to suffer as a result of his actions. The perennial sight of investigations and public inquiries into historic sex abuse of children in local authority, chiefly arising out of the wider ramifications of Operation Yewtree, has provided a very ready explanation for local authorities for the need to retain child protection data.’

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Panopticon, 23rd July 2015

Source: www.panopticonblog.com

Facebook, child protection and outsourced monitoring – Panopticon

Posted July 23rd, 2015 in children, data protection, internet, news, Northern Ireland, privacy by sally

‘Facebook is no stranger to complaints about the content of posts. Usually, one user complains to Facebook about what other users’ posts say about him. By making the offending posts available, Facebook is processing the complainant’s personal data, and must do so in compliance with data protection law.’
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Panopticon, 22nd Juyl 2015

Source: www.panopticonblog.com

Surveillance of MPs’ data challenged – BBC News

‘Three politicians will challenge the lawfulness of the intelligence services’ bulk interception of electronic data at a hearing later.’

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BBC News, 23rd July 2015

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Former employee found guilty over Morrisons data theft – Crown Prosecution Service

‘Andrew Skelton, a former employee of Morrisons supermarket has today (17 July) been found guilty of fraud, securing unauthorised access to computer material and disclosing personal data. He has been sentenced to eight years at Bradford Crown Court, in relation to stealing personal data belonging to nearly 100,000 Morrisons employees.’

Full story

Crown Prosecution Service, 17th July 2015

Source: www.cps.gov.uk

High court to rule on MPs’ claim that data retention act damages privacy – The Guardian

‘High court judges will give their decision on Friday on an accusation that the government has imposed laws which allow the police and security services to “spy on citizens” without proper safeguards.’

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The Guardian, 17th July 2015

Source: www.guardian.co.uk