The Legality of Mass Surveillance Operations
A court which isn’t a court in name rules on the legality of a government mass surveillance program that may or may not exist. That about sums up the Kafkaesque...
Right to Privacy
Will Australia learn from the EU’s mistakes on data retention?
Police officers, anti-terrorism officials and politicians all tell us that we need data retention laws, especially in a time of increased technological sophistication. This week, George Brandis—the Attorney General for...
Anti-Terrorism Review Reform: Some Considerations
In mid-July, the UK government announced its intention to abolish the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation – the office tasked to review the UK’s anti-terrorism laws – and replace it...
The Supreme Court of Canada Affirms Privacy as Anonymity
This is a critical time for privacy on the internet. Private entities, from the global, all-knowing Google to a local Internet Service Provider (ISP), retain sensitive and private information about...
Moral Arguments on the Right to Die: Should Courts Intervene?
On 25th June 2014, the UK Supreme Court, sitting as a full bench of nine, handed down judgment in the joined cases of R (on the application of Nicklinson and...
McDonald v UK: The ECtHR on Social Care Provision
So did Ms McDonald OBE, former ballerina, win her case in the European Court of Human Rights (McDonald v UK) or not? The Guardian on 20 May 2014 said: “European...
One May Not Retain Personal Data Forever: The Judgment in Google Spain
The Court of Justice of the European Union recently held in Google Spain that an individual may, in some cases, request that Google take down personal information from its search...
CJEU Holds the Data Retention Directive Invalid
In joined cases C-293/12 and C-594/12, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that Directive 2006/24/EC on the retention of data by service providers for the purposes of...
Respect for Private Life under Article 8 and Covert Filming – Söderman v Sweden
The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (“GC”) found Sweden had breached its obligations under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (“ECHR”) for failing...
X v Latvia: Creative Harmony, Fortunate Result
In X v Latvia the ECtHR held that a domestic Latvian order requiring the applicant to return her daughter to Australia (‘the order’) violated her right to family life under...
Ode v High Court of Ireland: the Right to Respect for Family Life is Alive and Kicking
There is a constant undercurrent of scepticism in the UK regarding the role of human rights in the legal system. Many see them as a tool to be exploited by...
European Court of Human Rights Rules on Same-Sex Civil Partnerships
In the case of Vallianatos and Others v. Greece, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights held that the legal recognition of different-sex civil partnerships to the...
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