Peers criticise government over emergency data laws – BBC News

Posted July 17th, 2014 in bills, electronic mail, interception, news, parliament, telecommunications by tracey

‘The government has come under fire in the Lords over emergency legislation giving the security services access to people’s phone and internet records.’

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BBC News, 16th July 2014

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Emergency surveillance bill clears Commons – The Guardian

‘Controversial emergency surveillance legislation has cleared the Commons after an extended sitting and angry exchanges alleging an abuse of parliament.’

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The Guardian, 16th July 2014

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Tom Hickman on the DRIP Bill: Plugging Gaps in Surveillance Laws or Authorising the Unlawful? – UK Constitutional Law Association

‘The unveiling last Thursday of a a draft bill on surveillance powers that is to be rushed through Parliament brought to mind the story of the Dutch boy who finds a hole in a dyke on his way to school and puts his finger in it to plug the leak until help arrives to shore it up. The legislation is said to be necessary to plug what the Government regards as holes in the regime of surveillance and investigatory powers pending a full review. The fact that the bill is titled the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Bill – the “DRIP” bill – may mean I am not the first person to draw the analogy. But the analogy may not be entirely apt. An examination of the DRIP Bill reveals that it is not addressing little holes in the regime but in fact profoundly important and substantial issues.’

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UK Constitutional Law Association, 14th July 2014

Source: www.ukconstitutionallaw.org/blog

Emergency data retention law could fail same tests as the existing law – OUT-LAW.com

Posted July 15th, 2014 in bills, EC law, electronic mail, news, telecommunications by tracey

‘FOCUS: The new law proposed by the UK government to ensure that telecoms companies keep communications data for a year could be challenged in the same way as the court-revoked law it is replacing.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 15th July 2014

Source: www.out-law.com

NSA surveillance data: UK access to information faces legal challenge – The Guardian

‘The biggest domestic legal challenge to UK intelligence agencies accessing the mass data harvested by the US National Security Agency (NSA) begins on Monday, and may be one reason behind the government’s decision to introduce emergency surveillance laws into parliament next week, campaigners have suggested.’

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The Guardian, 11th July 2014

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Tribunal to hear legal challenge to GCHQ surveillance claims – BBC News

‘A tribunal is to hear a legal challenge by civil liberty groups against the alleged use of mass surveillance programmes by UK intelligence services.’

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BBC News, 14th July 2014

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Theresa May pushes for greater surveillance powers – BBC News

Posted June 25th, 2014 in electronic mail, intelligence services, internet, news, police by sally

‘Theresa May is continuing to push for a change in the law to give police and security services the power to access email and social media.’

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BBC News, 25th June 2014

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Victory for Spamalot – Niebel in the Upper Tribunal – Panopticon

‘The spamming industry is a decidedly irritating but sadly almost unavoidable feature of our networked world. There is no question but that spamming (i.e. the sending of unsolicited direct marketing electronic communications) constitutes an unlawful invasion of our privacy (see further regs 22-23 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (SI 2003/2426) (PECR), implemented under EU Directive 2002/21/EC). The question is what can be done to stop it, particularly given that individual citizens will typically not want to waste their time litigating over the odd spam email or text?’

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Panopticon, 19th June 2014

Source: www.panopticonblog.com

Laws on legal professional privilege “need to catch up with digital age” – Legal Futures

Posted June 3rd, 2014 in electronic mail, internet, legal profession, news, privilege, reports by sally

‘National laws on protecting privileged legal communications are outdated and need to be brought into the digital age, according to the body representing Europe’s lawyers.’

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Legal Futures, 2nd June 2014

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Documents remained privileged when they were sent on to third party’s work email address, High Court rules – OUT-LAW.com

‘Highly confidential documents that were subject to legal professional privilege (LPP) did not lose this status when they were emailed by a party to his girlfriend, who then forwarded them to and accessed them through her work email account, the High Court has ruled.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 28th April 2014

Source: www.out-law.com

Greenclose Ltd v National Westminster Bank plc – WLR Daily

Greenclose Ltd v National Westminster Bank plc: [2014] EWHC 1156 (Ch);   [2014] WLR (D)  173

‘The terms of section 12(a) of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (“ISDA”) Master Agreement (Multi Currency-Cross Border Form) (1992 ed) were mandatory and any notice purportedly served pursuant to those provisions had to have been given by the means therein prescribed, and by reference to and in accordance with the contact information provided in part 4 of the schedule to the agreement, subject to any amendment properly notified pursuant to section 12(b). If the schedule did not provide certain information necessary for service by a prescribed method, the contract was to be construed as limiting the prescribed methods to those expressly permitted by the schedule unless and until the missing information was notified under section 12(b) or the contract was formally amended.’

WLR Daily, 14th April 2014

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Don’t email in capital letters, court tells ‘insensitive’ father in custody dispute – Daily Telegraph

Posted April 15th, 2014 in contact orders, electronic mail, news, parental rights by tracey

‘An “insensitive” father banned by the courts from seeing his children has been warned by a judge not to type his emails to them in capitals – because it looks like he is shouting.’

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Daily Telegraph, 14th April 2014

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Digital Rights Ireland Ltd v Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources and others (Irish Human Rights Commission intervening); In re Kärntner Landesregierung and others – WLR Daily

Posted April 14th, 2014 in data protection, EC law, electronic mail, law reports by sally

Digital Rights Ireland Ltd v Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources and others (Irish Human Rights Commission intervening); In re Kärntner Landesregierung and others (Joined Cases C-293/12 and C-594/12); [2014] WLR (D) 164

‘Parliament and Council Directive 2006/24/EC of 15 March 2006 on the retention of data generated or processed in connection with the provision of publicly available electronic communications services or of public communications networks and amending Directive 2002/58/EC was invalid.’

WLR Daily, 8th April 2014

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Plastic surgeon’s career in tatters after transsexual patient falsely claims he botched ear operation – Daily Telegraph

Posted March 12th, 2014 in compensation, cosmetic surgery, electronic mail, harassment, news by tracey

‘A plastic surgeon who brought liposuction to UK had his career almost ruined due to false claims by a transsexual who claimed he botched his ear operation. Dr Brian Mayou, founder of the Cadogan Clinic, 120 Sloane Street, Belgravia, became the target of a one-man campaign of abusive emails, calls, texts and online postings claiming he was a paedophile.’

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Daily Telegraph, 12th March 2014

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Second bites at the cherry, defective witness statements and sanction: a practical view from the Bar – Littleton Chambers

‘In his monthly column, James Bickford Smith discusses the Court of Appeal’s recent guidance on communications with judges after draft judgments are circulated, some interesting judicial
observations on defective witness statements, and the Commercial Court’s important relief from
sanctions decision in Re C (A Child) [2014] EWCA Civ 70.’

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Littleton Chambers, 7th March 2014

Source: www.littletonchambers.com

Ombudsman report into Joshua Titcombe death finds pain was inflicted by ‘inappropriate emails’ – The Independent

Posted February 28th, 2014 in birth, complaints, electronic mail, hospitals, midwives, news, ombudsmen by sally

‘“Inappropriate” emails sent by staff at an NHS trust caused offence and distress to a family who had already lost their baby because of avoidable lapses in his care, the health service ombudsman has said.’

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The Independent, 27th February 2014

Source: www.independent.co.uk

Man jailed for phishing scam that targeted UK students to steal £1.5m – The Guardian

Posted December 16th, 2013 in conspiracy, electronic mail, fraud, internet, loans, money laundering, news, sentencing, theft by sally

‘A man has been jailed for nearly four years for his part in a phishing scam that targeted UK students to steal in excess of £1.5m.’

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The Guardian, 14th December 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Mass Surveillance and Freedom of the Press: A Conversation with Glenn Greenwald – UCL

‘Last June, Glenn Greenwald broke the story of the mass surveillance government programs disclosed in the leaks by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. In August Mr. Greenwald’s partner, David Miranda, was detained by police at Heathrow Airport for 9 hours under schedule 7 to the Terrorism Act 2000. Mr. Greenwald has continued to release and comment on similar leaks since then and recently announced his departure from the Guardian to launch a new journalism venture with eBay co-founder Pierre Omidyar.

Our moderator led a conversation with Mr. Greenwald via Skype on the range of legal and political questions raised by his recent efforts. These include the lack of safeguards on government surveillance programs, the individual’s right to privacy, the freedom of the press to publish such information and any alleged threats these exposures pose to national security.’

Video

UCL, November 2013

Source: www.ucl.ac.uk

Suspension ordered for ‘win at all costs’ Times solicitor – Law Society’s Gazette

‘The Times newspaper’s former legal director is to be suspended from practising for six months from 16 December after a Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal hearing ruled that he had knowingly allowed a court to be misled through his “win at all costs” approach.’

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Law Society’s Gazette, 6th December 2013

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Ex-Times lawyer to face tribunal over claims he allowed court to be misled – The Guardian

‘The former legal manager of the Times newspaper is to appear before a tribunal this week over an allegation that he allowed a court to be misled over the unmasking of a detective writing the anonymous Nightjack blog.’

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The Guardian, 2nd December 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk