Last week saw the belated release of the Government’s response to the Consultation on the Leveson Inquiry [pdf] and its implementation. In accordance with its manifesto commitment the Government decided to cancel Leveson Part 2 and to repeal section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013.

The Government also published its correspondence with Sir Brian Leveson [pdf] who “fundamentally disagreed” with the decision to cancel Part 2 of the Inquiry.  Inforrm had a post about this.

The decision was, predictably, welcomed by the newspapers whose misconduct would have been investigated by the Inquiry (for example, the Sun and the Mirror).  Less predictably, in a remarkable editorial the Guardian also announced its support for the decision.  We had a post about this entitled “The Guardian’s Leveson Betrayal, Line by Line”.  There was also post about the Guardian’s decision on Zelo Street.

The Press Gazette has a piece about the welcome given by national newspapers to the decision.  Outside the national press there has been considerable criticism of the government’s decision.  Zelo Street has post entitled “Leveson 2 – Tory Shame”.  The decision was described as an “astonishing abandoned promise” by a leading phone hacking lawyer and the McCanns and other victims of press intrusion said they had no confidence in the government.

Shortly before the announcement on Leveson 2 the Daily Mail launched lengthy attack on the background of press regulation campaigner. Apparently without irony, the newspaper which supported the political views of Mr Mosley’s father attacked him over a racist pamphlet circulated in a by-election over 50 years ago.  At the same time, the newspaper made a strange allegation of perjury over a non-material answer given by Mr Mosley in the course of the trial of his successful privacy claim against the News of the World. In another non-ironic piece, the Sun accused Mr Mosley of paying a private detective to search for evidence in the course of that case.

There was widespread coverage of the case of NT1 v Google – the first “right to be forgotten” case to be tried in England and Wales.  There were reports on the BBC, the Guardian and the Independent.

Journlaw has been in conversation with two European media law professors: Emeritus Professor Dirk Voorhoof (University of Ghent) and Dr Inger Høedt-Rasmussen (University of Copenhagen). Their insights into the status of freedom of expression (Article 10) as a fundamental human right can be found here.

Internet and Social Media

The Global Internet and Jurisdiction Conference took place in Ottawa on 26 to 28 February 2018. The programme is available here.  Livestream is available from the first and third days.

There is an interesting post on the Cyberleagle blog entitled “Peaceful coexistence, jurisdiction and the internet

In an insightful article the Press Gazette highlights the pitfalls for journalists in relying upon Twitter as a source. The Gazette highlights the case of Goldman v Breitbart & ors, a US case, which held that a website which embedded a tweet could be liable for copyright infringement where the tweet itself included an unauthorised copyrighted photograph. Embedding itself constituted re-publication and subsequently an instance of copyright infringement.

Given the rising connectivity of the Internet of Things Windows Report sheds light on the potential privacy flaws inherent in the framework.

Bloomberg notes that Facebook cannot avoid an impending privacy suit over the use of biometric face prints.

Continuing an analysis of Twitter, The Verge notes the highly public nature of the platform and makes a series of recommendations on what can be done to safeguard users’ privacy.

Given the rise of the #MeToo movement Norton Rose Fulbright Social Media Law Bulletin notes the impact of employees taking to social media to air their grievances.

The domain name search tool Whois may be the target of regulation following proposals to block domain Registrant information. The Register  considers the regulatory proposals by the DNS regulator ICANN.

Data Privacy and Data Protection

Amazon has published a whitepaper outlining the company’s “shared responsibility model” for how Amazon Web Services manages privacy issues.

Paul Bernal’s Blog has a post on data retention which argues that the process should be encouraged. The post comes in response to an article by Anthony Speaight QC for the Judicial Power Project.

Inforrm had a post considering a claim by the Migrants’ Rights Network regarding the sharing of non-clinical patient data.

 ICO

 The ICO Blog highlights the international dimension of the Regulators remit this week. This includes attendance to the FOI Summit in Malia and receiving official from the Information Regulator in South Africa.

The Regulator has posted on the outcome of the Unsolicited Communications Enforcement Network (UCENet), which considers privacy law compliance issues in the affiliate marketing industry.

Surveillance

The BBC considers allegations made against Humberside Police stating that the force undertook surveillance of Janet Alder, sister of Christopher Alder, who died in police custody in 1998.

Following Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan’s comments on surveillance laws, the Times [£] uses the statements as an opportunity to discuss the current state of legislation.

European Court of Human Rights

The ECHR Blog analyses the implications of the Danish Government’s recent proposals, via the Draft Copanhagen Declaration, on re-balancing the interests between the European Court of Human Rights and Member States. The Blog considers the impact of the Draft Copenhagen Declaration across six articles:

The Strasbourg Observers blog considers the impact of the Declaration on the Courts independence and impartiality.

Newspapers Journalism and Regulation

Following a recent discussion on a Demos panel on the future of Artificial Intelligence of the LSE Media Policy Project Blog has published a note on the implications that AI has on journalism. The piece highlights a number of thought provoking regulatory issues such as data monitoring, news curating, fact checking and the production of new platforms for reader engagement.

IPSO

IPSO published a statement this week in support of the Government’s decision to repeal section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act.

IPSO has published a letter to the Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee following their evidence before the Committee on 21 February 2018.  The article emphasises the role of the Editors’ Code and its interaction with relevant legal principles, presents analysis of the complaints made to IPSO and addresses specific complaints involving the Sun.

Rulings

IPSO published one decision of the Complaints Committee: 05965-17 Latif v The Sunday Times in which complaints on the basis of clauses 1 (accuracy), 2 (privacy) and 3 (harassment) of the Code were dismissed.

Statements in Open Court and Apologies

The Daily Mail published an apology to Gary Lineker over a story published in November 2016.  There was a post about the apology on Zelo Street.

Last Week in the Courts

The case of NT1 v Google was heard by Warby J on 27 and 28 February and 1 March 2018.  The trial continues.  As already mentioned there was extensive press coverage.  Inforrm had a case preview by Aidan Wills.

Events

17 March 2018 The Media Democracy Festival, 10am-6pm, Birkbeck, University of London, Torrington Square, London WC1E 7JL

Please let us know if there are any media and law events which you would like us to list. 

Media Law in Other Jurisdictions

Australia

A number of major Australian media companies are supporting the magazine publisher Bauer in its appeal against the record amount of damages awarded to actor Rebel Wilson last year.

Austria

It is reported that the Austrian public broadcaster, ORF has issued libel proceedings against the Deputy Head of the Government, Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache after he accused it and a news presenter of lying.

Canada

In the case of Hee Creations Group v Chow 2018 BCSC 260  G C Weatherill J ordered a bride to pay $115,000 damages to a wedding photograph for defamatory comments which eventually destroyed the business.  There was a report about the judgment on the CTV news website.

Michael Geist continues to consider Bell Media’s controversial Fair Play initiative. The initiative advocates website-blocking and has received ever intensifying concern from supporters of open media. Michael Geist has considered the movement at length in a broad series of articles covering issues such as market competition, anti-piracy and the flaws in the operation of website blocking:

Geist also considers the intersection between fair dealing and journalism in a three highly compelling pieces, drawing significant parallels in relation to freedom of expression:

The Canadian Privacy Law Blog notes the recent comments by the Canadian Privacy Commissioner on the establishment of the concept of “online reputation” as a synonym with the right to be forgotten. 

Ireland

Sinn Fein political manager Nicky Kehoe has won his libel case against RTE in the High Court. Mr Kehoe was awarded €10,000 by the jury.  There were comments on the case in the Irish Times and the Independent.

United States

The Federal Trade Commission announced a settlement with Paypal over claims that its peer-tp-peer payment service misled customers regarding privacy safeguards, including the security of their financial accounts. The investigation and resolution of the matter is analysed by Hunton & Williams privacy and information security blog.

The National Law Review has commentary on Privacy, Data Security and Governance Boards.

Privacy Europe considers the arguments in the US Supreme Court of the Microsoft case concerning privacy of users’ data. The Financial Times notes the significance of the case here.

Following Governor Eric Greitens being charged with invasion of privacy the New York Times considers the nature of the crime and how it is made out under Missouri laws.

Research and Resources

Next Week in the Courts 

The trial in the case of NT1 v Google will continue before Warby J on 6 and 7 March 2018.

[Update] On 6 March 2018, there will statements in open court before Nicklin J The Hut.com Ltd v Brenton and Ellis v Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council.

We are not aware of any other media and law cases before the Courts next week.

Judgments

The following reserved judgments after public hearings in media law cases are outstanding:

Gubarev v Buzzfeed, heard 5 February 2018 (Master Fontaine)

AXB v BXA, heard 12 and 13 February 2018 (Sir David Eady)

This Round Up was compiled by Suneet Sharma, a junior legal professional with a particular interest and experience in media law