Data and privacy
ICO 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.
Read moreSuper Injunctions: committee reporting soon
By the end of this month we expect the committee investigating super injunctions to publish its report.
Read moreThe EU Council’s Conclusions On Revising EU Data Protection Law — Why Did They Bother?
The super tanker that is the European Union legislative process is currently trying to turn itself round with a view to revising data protection law.
Read moreAnother ruling on privacy injunctions
Judgment was handed down today in a case where a privacy injunction was made in 2008.
Read morePrivacy in Tweets - the debate continues
Addressing the Westminster Media Forum on the regulation of privacy and online media earlier today Baroness Buscombe, Chairman of the PCC, referred to the PCC's decision in Baskerville
Read morePrivacy and the Protection of Freedoms Bill
The Protection of Freedoms Bill, introduced in the House of Commons on 11 February 2011, is the second part of the UK Coalition Government's mission to 'restore freedoms and civil liberties through the abolition of unnecessary laws'.
Read moreThe legal protection of online identities
Millions of people post comments on the web in response to articles, blogs and stories. Many do so anonymously.
Read moreHarassment by letter-writing
Are letters capable of amounting to a course of conduct amounting to harassment?
Read moreCan employers spy on their employees?
The US media have reported a number of instances in which companies have hired private detectives to spy on workers taking "sickies".
Read moreAnonymity order lifted in marital privacy case
A High Court judge has lifted an anonymity order protecting the identity of a formerly married couple involved in a privacy dispute.
Read moreThe Article 8 rights of sex offenders
A recent decision of the Supreme Court has unleashed a populist wave directed at the European Court of Human Rights and European judges generally.
Read moreForced sterilisation case heard in public
On 15 February 2011 Hedley J ordered that a case proceeding in the Court of Protection which featured medical information of the highest sensitivity should be held in open court.
Read moreMax Mosley and the public interest in exposing hypocrisy
In an interesting interview with the Financial Times, the UK's most indomitable privacy claimant, Max Mosley, challenges the notion that there might be a public interest in exposing hypocrisy.
Read moreNo privacy in Tweets
Publicly accessible postings on Twitter and other social media are not private, according to rulings by the Press Complaints Commission.
Read moreICO fines councils for losing laptops
On 8 February 2011 the Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) issued two monetary penalty notices for serious breaches of the Data Protection Act.
Read moreSupreme Court welcomes Twitter
The use of Twitter is now officially sanctioned in the Supreme Court.
Read moreShock decision: sportsman not unmasked
The identity of the sportsman officially known as JIH remains confidential.
Read moreAnonymity proposed for teachers accused by pupils
The controversial Education Bill was published on 26 January 2011.
Read moreBlanket reporting restriction set aside by Court of Appeal
The Court of Appeal has discharged an order the effect of which would have been to postpone the reporting of an important criminal case for several months.
Read morePhone-hacking claims - a new legal pursuit
The pack of lawyers representing the alleged victims of phone hacking by the News of the World seems to grow on an almost weekly basis.
Read moreA mass outbreak of anonymity: CDE and FGH v MGN and LMN
It is not unusual for claimants in privacy cases to be anonymised. It is less common for defendants and distinctly unusual for non-parties.
Read moreECtHR upholds Campbell v MGN
Just under seven years after the House of Lords found by 3 to 2 against the Daily Mirror in the landmark privacy case by Naomi Campbell, the European Court of Human Rights has rejected MGN's attempt to persuade it that UK law was incompatible with Article 10.
Read moreNo exclusion of bereaved families from 7/7 inquest
The Divisional Court has refused the Government's application for judicial review of the 7/7 Coroner's decision not to exclude victims' families from the court during its private sessions.
Read more7/7 footage withheld from public to protect privacy of victims and their families
The Coroner conducting the inquest into the terror attacks in London on 7 July 2005 has ordered that certain footage shown in court of the aftermath of the 7/7 attacks should not be released to the media.
Read moreSuper-injunctions - an update
Super-injunctions are injunctions that prevent publication of the fact that the court has made an injunction.
Read moreStay connected and subscribe to our latest insights and views
Subscribe Here