As surely nobody has forgotten, in April, the Duke of Edinburgh died. Even a committed republican such as myself would have to acknowledge that this is a significant event in UK public life. Government and government-adjacent organisations such as the Information...
ICO
The China Syndrome
I don't have an exciting Data Protection origin story. I've heard people talk about coming into DP or FOI to fight for inalienable rights, to battle the evils of surveillance and encroaching government or corporate power. Some people seem to have started work on...
Seersucker
Although it appears to have fallen silent, the Institute of Data Protection had an impressive sales pitch. It was “one of the most forward thinking and advanced learning programmes available for data protection professionals. We represent and support our members,...
“Data Protection concerns”
The family of Belly Mujinga, a railway worker who died from Covid-19 last year, want to launch a private prosecution against a man who allegedly spat on her while she was working in Victoria station. The British Transport Police refuse to name the suspect, citing...
Low profiling
The MP for Ochil & South Perthshire, John Nicolson, wrote to the Information Commissioner last week, asking for clarification on what political parties can lawfully do with certain types of personal data. Nicolson previously enjoyed a minor coup at the DCMS select...
Join the Club
We've all been there. It's Saturday night, "The Masked Singer" has long finished, and there seems to be nothing else to do but reveal Dominic Cummings' mobile number on the internet. Award-winning journalist Carole Cadwalladr took to Twitter to either announce that...
Weapons of Mass Deference
The defining issue of the Tony Blair era is almost certainly the Iraq War, and I suspect that when most people think of him and his sidekick Alistair Campbell, it’s WMDs and dodgy dossiers that come to mind. So when the First Tier Tribunal issued a decision...
Taking back control
I've encountered many different posts and opinions about how Data Protection law will work in the UK after December 31st. This is my take as things currently stand. DP law in the UK Data Protection law in the UK will comprise the UK GDPR (a version of the GDPR amended...
Open Wrongs
The Open Rights Group describes itself as “a UK-based digital campaigning organisation working to protect our rights to privacy and free speech online”. Although its campaigns are varied, there has definitely been an emphasis in recent months on the work of the ICO,...
Unrepresentative
Predictions about the Brexit negotiations are probably a mug's game. Despite the fact that Boris Johnson's government is the stupidest and most incompetent of my lifetime, it's clearly not impossible that the EU will give the UK some kind of trade deal at the end of...