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 via a press release – complete with quotes from The Saj himself – that […]
I had planned to write a detailed condemnation of Liz Denham’s time in office to coincide with her leaving, examining every twist and turn. For many (especially outside the UK), Denham is the poster girl of data protection, an inspirational figure with the guts to take on Big Tech. For me (and some within UK), […]
We’ve all been there. You’ve got some knockoff ‘Orwell was right’ hokum to please the gambling industry, and a dusty tabloid owned by a media group that makes a lot of money out of bingo and betting have space in amongst the adverts to publish it. Do you really have to check the facts? Do […]
This week, the Information Commissioner’s Office significantly changed its policy on direct marketing as it relates to the public sector. ICO now says most messages sent by public sector organisations – even those sent for explicitly promotional purposes – are not direct marketing. The definition has always included both commercial messages but also the promotion […]
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 Commissioner’s Office plainly had to weigh up how best to react to his passing. […]
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, promoting the highest professional standards around data protection and privacy issues”. UPDATE: since this blog was […]
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 to remove redundant EU references) […]
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 them. It’s also not impossible that part of the […]
The A5103 is a dual carriageway near my house that connects the M56 at the bottom with the city of Manchester at the top. People come racing off the M56 onto it, many barely slowing before hitting the M60. However, immediately afterwards, the A5103 goes through a series of residential areas: West Didsbury, Whalley Range, […]
On page 74 of the Information Commissioner’s newly published Annual Report, you can find the welcome news that the ICO reduced the amount of water in flushing toilets and the timings of auto flushing in urinals. Sadly, the expansion of the organisation’s footprint in Wilmslow, due to swelling numbers of staff, has led to an […]
