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Claire Overman and Andrew Wheelhouse - 20th January 2016
On 13 May 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) handed down judgment in Google Spain SL and Google Inc. v AEPD and Costeja (Costeja). This case established the so-called “right to be forgotten” (RTBF) whereby a data subject may ask the operator of a search engine to remove information relating to […]
Aldo Macedo - 19th December 2015
Ever since Edward Snowden revealed the existence of the United States’ and other governments’ massive and indiscriminate citizen surveillance system, various actors and organizations have attempted to document, discuss and regulate surveillance practices. One such attempt has been the proposal of an International Treaty on the Right to Privacy, Protection Against Improper Surveillance, and Protection […]
Andrew Wheelhouse - 25th November 2015
Recently it seems as though you can hardly get away from government mass surveillance programs (no pun intended). They even make an appearance in the latest James Bond film (as sinister tools of the ‘New World Order’, naturally). The latest event, long anticipated following Digital Rights Ireland and R(Davis), has been the unveiling of the […]
Claire Overman - 23rd November 2015
On 10 November 2015, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) handed down judgment in the case of Couderc and Hachette Filipacchi Associés v France. The case concerned an article published in the applicants’ magazine in which a woman (Ms. Coste) alleged that Prince Albert of Monaco was her son’s father. […]
Andrew Wheelhouse - 17th November 2015
Data protection law, once the preserve of tragic anoraks with too much time on their hands (in the words of one prominent practitioner) has in recent months become a powerful weapon in the arsenal of media lawyers. It has also become the new front line in the ongoing struggle between privacy and freedom of expression […]
Kanad Bagchi - 26th October 2015
For fifteen years companies on both sides of the Atlantic relied on Commission Decision 2000/520 (“Commission Decision”) to transfer personal data of EU citizens to USA data centres, until the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) struck it down on 6th October 2015 as violating both EU Directive 95/46/EC (“data protection directive”) and […]
Andrew Wheelhouse - 29th July 2015
Much ink has been spilt of late over the mass surveillance programs run by western intelligence agencies. A separate, but related, matter of concern for privacy campaigners has been legislation permitting the government to order the retention of communications data by service providers. Following a successful legal challenge, British constitutional law enthusiasts were treated recently […]
Andrew Wheelhouse - 26th June 2015
Pressure on the government to reform the use of surveillance powers within the UK has recently ratcheted up another notch. A few months ago the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament (ISC) and the Interception of Communications Commissioner’s Office (ICCO), published reports criticising aspects of the surveillance system. Now David Anderson QC, the Independent Reviewer […]
Nauman Asghar - 1st May 2015
On April 16, in Pakistan, the National Assembly Standing Committee on Information and Technology approved the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill 2015. Procedural safeguards and fundamental principles of law have been blatantly disregarded when drafting this cyber law, raising serious concerns over civil liberties, particularly the right to privacy and freedom of expression. The bill […]
Andrew Wheelhouse - 14th April 2015
Rumblings of discontent have been heard from the supervisory bodies that are entrusted with providing oversight of surveillance operations by UK intelligence agencies. While these demonstrate that the security services do not get everything their own way, the proposals made will likely amount to little more than a tweaking of current extensive surveillance powers. Observers […]
Andrew Wheelhouse - 7th April 2015
Can the retention of records by the police relating to acts that occurred in public be contrary to the right to privacy? Such a matter was recently considered by the UK Supreme Court in R (Catt and T) v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis [2015] UKSC 9. Mr Catt is a 91 year […]
Max Harris - 6th April 2015
From 6 February until 6 April, London’s Photographers’ Gallery is playing host to ‘Human Rights Human Wrongs’, an exhibition curated by Mark Sealy. In introducing the exhibition, Sealy says its aim is to redress photography’s Eurocentric and imperialist biases on human rights issues, and to reject the idea that an era or event can be […]