By Tom Orrell & Melissa Stock Privacy law has never been a straightforward affair in England. Its development has been piecemeal over the past two centuries.[1] In fact the laws that govern information today are spread across multiple frameworks, including: libel (protecting reputation), data protection (rights over the processing of personal data), breach of confidence […]
This is an overview of DB v The General Medical Council (‘GMC’) [2018] EWCA Civ 1497 in the Court of Appeal. It is now the leading judgment in the approach to be taken on disclosure in so-called mixed personal data cases – that is subject access requests where the information requested by the data subject […]
Employee Computer Files The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled that an employer may ‘freely consult’ an employee’s computer file that is not private, so long as the company’s IT charter makes a provision to do so. In Libert v France (Application No 588/13), an employee of SNCF (France’s national railway company) was […]
Last week an important case was decided in the High Court on the so-called ‘Right to be Forgotten’. The Claimants, NT1 and NT2, are businessmen who asked Google to remove links to search results that revealed their past convictions. The High Court judgment is lengthy and comprehensive. For those who wish to analyse the case […]
There has been an important judgment in the area of employee privacy and monitoring at work. At the end of the summer, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) considered the judgment of the Fourth Section in Barbulescu v Romania (application 61496/08). Mr Bogdan Mihai Barbulescu had been asked by his […]
Summary His Highness Prince Moulay Hicham Ben Abdullah Al Alaoui of Morocco brought a defamation claim against Elaph Publishing Limited for an article published on the company’s news website in October 2014. The parties appealed, and cross-appealed, a decision in the High Court on an application for strike out/summary judgment, and an application to amend […]
This was an appeal in the Supreme Court concerning the scope of the duty of confidentiality that HMRC owes to taxpayers. Patrick McKenna founded Ingenious Media Holdings Plc (“Ingenious Media”), an investment and advisory group that specialised in the media industry. The group utilised tax relief schemes relevant to the industry; HMRC were investigating these […]
