R (Bridges) v Chief Constable of South Wales Police and Others [2019] EWHC 2341 (Admin): A summary (use of facial recognition technology (UK))

R (Bridges) v Chief Constable of South Wales Police and Others [2019] EWHC 2341 (Admin) To read the judgment click here. The High Court turned down an application for judicial review of the decision by South Wales Police to use automated facial recognition technology in a pilot project. The project involved the capture of digital […]

ICO Annual Report 2018/2019: A summary

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) published its 2018/2019 Annual Report on 8 July 2019. Here is a short summary: The number of enquiries the ICO received increased by 66% to just under half a million. The number of data protection complaints almost doubled compared with the previous year. Subject Access Requests made up the largest […]

Balancing human and machine perspectives: what is the ‘public interest’ in the AI era?

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 […]

The E-Privacy Regulation: An Overview

This is an overview of the e-Privacy Regulation (‘ePR’), which will replace Directive 2002/58/EC (Regulation on Privacy and Electronic Communications), or ‘e-Privacy Directive’. The e-Privacy Directive protects the confidentiality of electronic communications and applies to publicly available electronic communications services. In the U.K., the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulation (“PECR”) implements the e-Privacy Directive. In […]

The GDPR and Fines

The Article 29 Data Protection Working Party recently issued guidelines on fines for the purposes of the General Data Protection Regulation (‘GDPR’). Article 83(1) of the GDPR states that supervisory authorities should identify corrective measures that are “effective, proportionate and dissuasive”. Article 83(2) is the starting point for assessing a case for the purpose of […]

The GDPR and Personal Data Breach Reporting

The Article 29 Data Protection Working Party (‘A29WP’) recently issued guidelines on personal data breach reporting under the General Data Protection Regulation (‘GDPR’). The GDPR obliges data controllers to report personal data breaches to data protection authorities within 72 hours unless the breach is ‘unlikely to result in a risk to the rights and freedoms’ […]

R (on the application of Ingenious Media Holdings Plc) v Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs [2016] UKSC 54

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 […]