Employ me

No accountability

In February, the Information Commissioner issued a bewildering press release headlined “Information Commissioner's Office calls for accountants to play their role in SMEs data protection compliance”. Like many in the DP sector, my instinctive reaction was “what...

Still not dead

Today, I turn 50. I can’t tell you how I feel about this because I wrote this post in advance and I plan to just publish and move on, either in good spirits or morosely contemplating my mortality. If you’re reading this, Mission Accomplished either way. Originally, I...

Strictly necessary

The most important word in data protection is ‘purpose’. Everything stems from the purpose for which you’re using the data. The data subjects, the data itself, the lawful basis, and everything else comes from this. It’s impossible to decide whether processing is...

Livin’ on a prayer

It seems like years, but about a month ago, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport gave a speech at the Conservative Party Conference. Michelle Donelan, who is at the time of writing still in post, announced that the government was still intent...

Funny Money

In two high-profile speeches in July, Information Commissioner John Edwards made a bold claim, unlike any I’ve heard from previous Commissioners. He told the Data Protection Practitioners’ Conference: “I’ve challenged my team to save business at least £100 million...

Self-own

There’s a post on the ICO website that is supposed to be “A day in the life of the ICO’s information management team” – it is in fact a plug for the accountability framework. It contains a specific claim that ICO has subsequently circulated on social media: “we must...

Back to Black

I have what a lot of people would call a blacklist. I call it a blocklist because I can’t shake off the sense that ‘blacklist’ is a racist term. Our language is often coded in ugly ways, and ‘blocklist’ does the job. I maintain a list of people and organisations I...

Pingdemic

On Boxing Day at 12.47pm, millions of people received a badly-written text message. “GET BOOSTED NOW Every adult needs a COVID-19 booster vaccine to protect against Omicron. Get your COVID-19 vaccine or booster. See NHS website for details” The Government confirmed...