Data and privacy
Cloud confidentiality – or not …
Anyone using a number of devices to access their information will be tempted to share files between those devices using a service such as Dropbox.
Read moreA Chinese lesson for private investigators
Those engaged in the investigation business – whether sniffing out personal or corporate intelligence – are well aware of the need to comply with laws that protect personal information.
Read moreNo basis for murderer's anonymity and an alert from the bench
Four media groups[1] have successfully challenged an anonymity order and related reporting restrictions made in the course of judicial review proceedings brought by the notorious murderer, David McGreavy.
Read moreNo breach of privacy in publication of information that child's father is a prominent politician
The Court of Appeal has upheld a High Court judgment that disclosures in the Daily Mail about a child's paternity did not infringe the child's rights of privacy.
Read moreFinancier granted permanent anonymity in defamation proceedings
Proceedings have finally drawn to a close in the case of ZAM v CFW & TFW, which involved a financier who claimed to have been libelled by his sister-in-law (the first defendant) and her husband (the second defendant).
Read moreDefence to Harassment actions reformulated
The Supreme Court has handed down a judgment in Hayes v Willoughby1 that redefines the scope of the most commonly used defence to claims of harassment.
Read moreCan schools take pupils' fingerprints?
The Times reported last week that parents at an independent school in north London had protested when fingerprints were allegedly taken from pupils without consent with a view to the fingerprints being used for the automated lunch payment system.
Read moreUK/EU conflict over the 'right to be forgotten'
The Guardian is reporting today that Britain wants to opt out of the 'right to be forgotten', the term applied to article 17 of the Data Protection Regulation which is intended to facilitate the deletion of personal data on request whether or not the data is incomplete or incorrect.
Read moreDo we really value our privacy?
How much do we really care about our personal privacy? Research suggests less than we might like to think.
Read moreDid the Australian radio hosts breach their industry code?
Will the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) take tough action not only in respect of the broadcast without permission of the secretly recorded telephone call, but also for breaching the Duchess of Cambridge’s privacy?
Read moreLeveson's vision of a regulated press
The question of what changes result is essentially a political matter.
Read moreUnmeritorious privacy claim dismissed as attempted extortion.
A privacy claim brought by an ex-business associate of Lord Sebastian Coe in relation to an Evening Standard article which published leaked business emails was dismissed on Tuesday by the High Court.
Read moreUK referred to ECJ over internet privacy
On 30 September 2010 the European Commission announced that it referred the UK to the European Court of Justice for its alleged failure to implement EU laws on the confidentiality of electronic communications such as emails or internet browsing.
Read moreIrish court dismisses privacy claim
Ruth Hickey (who is the former partner of David Agnew (according to recent Irish press reports), who in turn is the former husband of Adele King (also known as “Twink”), an Irish entertainer) brought a claim against The Sunday World newspaper in the Irish High Court for (1) breach of her (and her son’s) rights of privacy and (2) libel .
Read morePrince Harry – has the Sun got it right?
This blog noted a couple of days ago that clause 3 of the PCC Code requires editors to justify intrusions into an individual’s private life without consent.
Read moreA former editor’s view on the naked Royal
There’s an interesting view on the naked pictures of Prince Harry from a former tabloid editor.
Read moreMP’s partner loses privacy and harassment case against newspaper publisher
Carina Trimingham has lost her privacy and harassment case against the publishers of the Daily Mail.
Read moreWhat’s really wrong with pictures of the Duchess of Cambridge shopping?
The celebrity magazine Heat has published the following apology:
Read moreWhen can you sue under a disguised name?
In what circumstances can a claimant in civil litigation commence proceedings under a pseudonym?
Read moreJudgment awaited in Trimingham harassment case
Carina Trimingham's privacy and harassment case against Associated Newspapers was heard by Mr Justice Tugendhat in the High Court last week. Judgment has been reserved.
Read moreParliamentary committee reports on privacy
The Joint Committee on Privacy and Injunctions has reported.
Read moreAccess to Documents in Criminal Proceedings – Guardian Challenge Secures Change
The Court of Appeal has ruled that where documents have been placed before a judge and referred to in the course of open proceedings, the default position should be that access should be permitted on the open justice principle.
Read moreMoJ publishes first statistics on privacy injunctions
Yesterday the Ministry of Justice published the first set of statistics on privacy injunctions, following the recommendations in the report by Lord Neuberger's Committee on Super Injunctions published in May last year.
Read moreGiggs' claim for privacy damages is struck out
Ryan Giggs has lost his claim for damages against News Group Newspapers ("NGN").
Read moreICO fines Midlothian Council £140,000 - ICO's highest ever fine for data breaches
The Information Commissioner's Office (the "ICO") has fined Midlothian Council £140,000 for five separate security breaches, which involved accidental disclosure of confidential and sensitive personal data about children and carers to the wrong recipients.
Read moreChief Executive of Ann Summers gets privacy injunction
Mr Justice Tugendhat has today handed down a short judgment explaining why he made an interlocutory order to prevent the publication of private and confidential information about Jacqueline Gold, the high-profile Chief Executive of Ann Summers.
Read moreCabinet minister's 17-year-old son gets privacy injunction but not anonymity
The son of Caroline Spelman, the Environment Secretary, has obtained an injunction against the publishers of the Daily Star Sunday.
Read moreStrasbourg Rulings on Two Personal Privacy Claims
The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights yesterday handed down its much anticipated decisions in the important privacy cases Axel Springer and von Hannover.
Read moreShould Demi Moore's emergency call have been kept private?
When the actress Demi Moore needed emergency medical care at her home in Los Angeles last week, her friend called 911.
Read moreDamages for unauthorised access to medical records
A judge has awarded £12,500 to a man whose pre-existing personality disorder was exacerbated after his partner accessed his medical records and challenged him about his mental illness.
Read moreOnline privacy rights strengthened by EU data protection reform
The EU has proposed important reforms to data protection laws. The reforms have two aims: increased online privacy rights and boosting the digital economy by removing or easing some unnecessary administrative burdens.
Read moreNew Injunction Guidance
We have previously reported on the controversy surrounding the number and effect of privacy injunctions
Read moreRio's "role model" image unravels - landslide media victory in privacy case
Serial tweeter Rio Ferdinand has lost his privacy battle against the Sunday Mirror. His privacy row related to a "kiss and tell" story published in the Sunday Mirror last year.
Read moreGuardian beefs up its privacy code
Guardian News & Media, owner of the Guardian and Observer, has revised its internal editorial guidelines and beefed up the sections that protect privacy.
Read moreAutomatic numberplate recognition: is it legal?
A report in the Guardian last week reminds readers of the strong likelihood that local police forces have tracked their movements with the use of automatic numberplate recognition (ANPR).
Read moreReporting the family courts - new guide published
A valuable guide has just been published which sets out the law governing access to, and reporting of, the family courts.
Read moreA "tenuous claim to privacy": Hutcheson v News Group
Can you expect to keep a second family private? That was the ambitious hope of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay's father-in-law, Chris Hutcheson.
Read moreReporting the Courts: a view on postponement orders
The principle of open justice has been ardently promoted in our society for many years, as was confirmed by Lord Hewart in R v Sussex Justices, ex parte McCarthy who said that “it is not merely of some importance but it is of fundamental importance that justice should not only be done, but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done”.
Read moreDetails of the new inquiry into press regulation and phone-hacking
It had been thought that the Prime Minister had pledged to set up two separate inquiries: one into phone-hacking and one into press regulation more generally.
Read morePublic inquiries into privacy and press regulation
BBC Radio 4's PM programme's 'Privacy Commission' has finished hearing evidence and will presumably be publishing its report shortly.
Read morePhone hacking scandal reaches a new plane
If, as seems likely, it proves true that the News of the World did indeed hack into the voicemail messages of the abducted teenager Milly Dowler, the phone hacking saga moves onto an entirely new plane.
Read moreDisclosure of documents in privacy litigation
What documents is a claimant entitled to demand from a media defendant in a privacy case?
Read moreJustice Secretary expresses concern over MPs defying injunctions
The Times has today reported that the Justice Secretary Ken Clarke yesterday told the Joint Committee on the Defamation Bill that he was concerned about the growing habit of using parliamentary privilege to defy court gagging orders.
Read moreA former judge reflects on privacy injunctions
Mr Justice Eady's interview last month by Joshua Rosenberg -
Read moreA digest of recent news (1) - UK judgments
For one reason and another, the blog has been unable to report on much of the recent news. This entry is an attempt to remedy the situation. Normal service should be resumed shortly.
Read moreAre privacy injunctions too restrictive?
Has privacy law gone too far? It’s not just the editor of the Daily Mail who thinks so.
Read moreThe effect of privacy injunctions on third parties
In general, an injunction made against a defendant does not affect a third party.
Read moreWorkplace affairs are private - especially if one half of the couple has children
The Court of Appeal's judgment in ETK v News Group [2011] EWCA Civ 439 has prompted gasps of horror from some sections of the media.
Read morePhone-hacking is not a hanging offence
In February Donald Trelford, the respected former editor of the Observer, wrote in the Independent that the phone-hacking saga was a case of "dog eats dog gone barking-mad".
Read moreThe "half-lives" of celebrities: a theory of phone-hacking
In today's Independent Dominic Lawson offers an interesting view on how phone-hacking was allowed to take hold at the News of the World.
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