In his article on the recent Court of Appeal judgment in Vince v Associated Newspapers Ltd [2026] EWCA Civ 899, Sean Sutherland warns, forebodingly, that the “striking decision risks undercutting the law of defamation, which has grown incrementally to balance the interests of freedom of expression and of reputation” and adding “uncertainty into the law.” Continue reading
The International Forum for Responsible Media Blog
Category: Data Protection (Page 1 of 38)
On 15 July 2026, the Court of Appeal handed down an important judgment in Vince v Associated Newspapers ([2026] EWCA Civ 899). This decision establishes, for the first time, that a person can sue a newspaper under data protection law for an “unfair” article even if, under the law of defamation, there is no claim. Continue reading
The suicide on 7 February 2026 of Princess Dickson, a social influencer’s sixteen year old daughter who was subject to “years of online abuse and bullying on Tattle Life” brought into renewed focus the responsibilities of online forums to ensure that the creation and dissemination of information about identifiable individuals, especially by “anonymous strangers”, is lawful. Continue reading
Imagine a stranger starts chatting with you on a train platform or in a shop. The exchange feels ordinary. Later, it appears online, edited as “dating advice” and framed to invite sexualised commentary. Continue reading
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)’s data protection complaint handling performance is currently in very clear crisis. Despite its pledge to assess and respond to 80% of such complaints within 90 days, the percentage of cases where such an outcome has not been achieved has ballooned from 15.2% in 2023/ 24 to 70% in 2024/25 (a 360% increase). Continue reading
On 17 August 2023 the Ministry of Defence (MoD) put the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on broad notice about the devastating failure of data protection that is now generally known as the Afghan data breach (although sadly there have been many others). Continue reading
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) Annual Report for 2024/25 released last week sadly provides evidence of a severe and serious weakening of information rights regulation compared to the strong enforcement which is (and remains) promised especially under the (UK) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Continue reading
The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has some history of failing to learn the lessons from its past information governance mistakes, even seeking to present these as a testament to success. For example, its publicity video for its 40th anniversary released earlier this year stated that the 2012 Leveson Inquiry, which followed the phone hacking scandal, showed it “stand[ing] up during scandals” and thereby demonstrated a track record of “being there when you need us most”. Continue reading
Last week, Meta – the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp – unveiled a new “personal artificial intelligence (AI)”. Powered by the Llama 4 language model, Meta AI is designed to assist, chat and engage in natural conversation. With its polished interface and fluid interactions, Meta AI might seem like just another entrant in the race to build smarter digital assistants. Continue reading
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